Lecturers from five public universities in Kenya have threatened to go on strike over delayed payment of salaries.
Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) said the University dons will down their tools if their grievances are not addressed by the government.
The Lecturers are from Moi University, Kenyatta University, Technical University of Kenya, Taita Taveta University, and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
According to UASU, the affected staff members have either not received their salaries or their pay is consistently disbursed late.
Lecturers to Down tools
Furthermore, the Union stated that out of the 40 universities, only these five institutions are consistently paid late without providing convincing explanations for the inordinate delays.
“We are asking the CS Education Ezekiel Machogu about what is happening in the five universities. No salary no work” UASU Secretary General Constantine Wasonga said.
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Further, the union noted that their members have not received May 2024 salaries citing that non-payment of staff salaries is a violation of the law.
Additionally, UASU expressed concern over the increasing frequency of such delays, pointing out that April salaries were disbursed after May 17, 2024.
“The delay in salary payments has caused significant hardship to our members, and is affecting our ability to meet financial obligations such as servicing standing orders, mortgage payments, rent, and school fees,” UASU said in a letter to the Education CS.
Therefore, the union stated that it has requested a meeting with CS Machogu on June 25 to discuss the issue, mitigate the “growing problem,” and “provide practical solutions to prevent further suffering of our members.”
University Funding Crisis
Machogu while speaking during the 4th Biennial Conference on University Research and Innovation on June 12 at the Kenya International Convention Centre (KICC) acknowledged that funding issues facing higher education institutions have drove public universities into pending bills amounting to more than Ksh70 Billion.
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According to the funding report of the 2023/24 financial year from the Treasury, public universities received an allocation of Ksh44,023,955,000 against a requirement Ksh71,945,049,600 leaving a deficit of Ksh27,921,094,600.
Consequently, this left the varsities with a deepening budget deficit totaling to Ksh49billion.
In May 2024, the University dons decried salary delays, saying that they survive on Fuliza and shylock loans. They cited that the pay delays have disrupted essential services tied to statutory contributions, including access to medical services.
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