Photo Caption: UASU Secretary-General Constantine Wesonga (center) speaks during a media briefing in Nairobi on September 24, 2026, where the union issued a seven-day nationwide strike notice over the delayed 2025–2029 CBA.
NAIROBI, Kenya — The University Academic Staff Union (UASU) has issued a seven-day nationwide strike notice, demanding the conclusion and implementation of the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and government funding of university staff salaries through the national Exchequer rather than student fees.
Speaking during a media briefing in Nairobi, UASU Secretary-General Constantine Wesonga said the union had issued the strike notice after the government failed to provide the financial commitment required to facilitate negotiations for the 2025–2029 CBA.
“The University Academic Staff Union hereby issues a seven-day notice of nationwide strike.”wesonga said.
Wesonga said the union had initially given the government one month after receiving assurances that the financial framework for the 2025–2029 CBA would be provided.
He said the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) informed the union that it could not issue the necessary advice to facilitate a financial counter-proposal because neither the Ministry of Education nor the National Treasury had provided a written commitment that the CBA would be funded through the national Exchequer.
“National CBAs cannot be funded by individual universities. National CBA is supposed to be funded from the Exchequer.”He said.
Wesonga said the government owes public universities about Sh100 billion, arguing that the financial difficulties facing the institutions were linked to failure to remit funds due to them.
He said the situation had affected universities’ ability to meet various obligations, including remitting pension deductions and Pay As You Earn (PAYE).
Wesonga also rejected the proposed funding model under which money would follow students, saying university employees should not depend on student fees for their salaries.
“We are not going to allow our salaries to be paid from student fees.”wesonga said.
He said university employees are public officers whose salaries should be funded through the Consolidated Fund or money appropriated by Parliament.
Wesonga said individual universities were already financially constrained and therefore could not be expected to finance a national CBA.
He warned that UASU would not accept a situation where university staff were left without salaries because of delays or shortfalls in student fee payments.
UASU Chairperson Grace Nyongesa said the funding challenges were compounded by a shortage of academic staff in public universities, with rising student numbers placing lecturers under increasing pressure.She said some lecturers were handling classes of up to 1,000 students, while inadequate facilities further affected teaching and student supervision.
“We have lecturers teaching up to 1,000 students. This is a huge number for any class.” she said.
Nyongesa said the situation required the recruitment of more academic staff instead of proposals to declare employees redundant.She said the 2025–2029 CBA was expected to address several outstanding issues, including recruitment of academic staff and human-resource instruments in public universities.
“This CBA was going to address several issues including recruitment of members of academic staff in the universities. The universities are understaffed.”Nyongesa said.
Nyongesa said the union had negotiated in good faith and reached agreements on several issues but was disappointed when subsequent developments failed to reflect what had been agreed.
“We are supposed to negotiate and agree. We are the ones who know what would work well in the sector.”she said.
She said continued growth in student numbers would further strain universities already dealing with inadequate staffing and facilities.
UASU has demanded that the 2025–2029 CBA be negotiated, signed and begin implementation within the seven-day notice period.
The union has also called on the Ministry of Education and the National Treasury to immediately commit to funding the agreement through the national Exchequer rather than student fees.UASU warned that failure to meet its demands would lead to the closure of public universities from October 2, 2026.
