Kenya lecturers and non-academic staff went on strike March 14, 2014 over pay and working conditions. They defied a court order., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Kenya: Lecturers of Public Universities commence Strike
0 K. O. Peppeh
March 14, 2014
Public university lecturers and some non-teaching staffs in an estimated 30,000 institutions across Kenya have commenced a strike action over a rift with vice chancellors and other top administrative representatives.
The dispute, reportedly over an unpaid sum of Sh 3.9 million due to the lecturers as part of a salary agreement in 2012, could potentially lead to the postponement of semester examinations in many universities scheduled for early next month.
Earlier in the week, representatives of Kenya’s Union of Academic Staff Union (UASU) and Kenya’s University Staff Union (KUSU) announced the strike action after a meeting with the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Jacob Kaimenyi, failed to carve a path out of the crisis.
However, on Tuesday, the Inter-Public University Consultative Forum (IPUCF) successfully secured an injunction against the strike.
The Industrial Court reportedly also summoned representatives of Kenya’s lecturers’ unions to appear in court on Wednesday.
However, the injunction has been ignored and the lecturers failed to turn up to the hearing. According to them, the notice of the strike suspension was not properly served.
Reports indicate that the Industrial court ruled for the notice to be served through national newspapers.
In a recent report by Standard Digital, Mr. K’Olale decried what he described as “the misuse of courts…to intimidate workers who are demanding what is lawful for them.”
He further called on the Chief Justice to “look into the Industrial Court, which has issued erroneous, unethical and immoral orders.”
“The court is supposed to respect workers’ rights, not to go against them” he added.
The lecturers’ unions have reportedly also uncovered up to Sh 3 billion unaccounted for by the university’s administration.
They have further accused Kenya’s public university administrators of fraud, abuse of office and incompetence.
The administrators are yet to respond to these accusations. However, reports indicate that the delay in the payment of the Sh 3.9 million is due to a budgetary deficit.
Local media sources have reported that students across Kenya’s public universities have been forced to attend to their other interests as libraries and other facilities remains closed.
A few confrontations between the striking lecturers and students were reported earlier in the week, but these only amounted to skirmishes.
This strike by public university lecturers comes after a similar industrial action by teachers and doctors last year.
According to some pundits, these overblown disagreements are an indication of several problems in the government’s relationship with public workers.
Dons’ strike enters second week
Kenya Daily Nation
The lecturers’ strike enters its second week today after the dons and vice-chancellors failed to find a solution at the weekend.
“As managers, we are trying to make sure that lecturers willing to teach, especially part-timers, are left to do so,” Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) vice-chancellor Josephat Mwatelah said on Sunday.
The lecturers’ strike enters its second week today after the dons and vice-chancellors failed to find a solution at the weekend.
This was despite concerted efforts by the government to push them to find a way out of the stalemate.
Labour Cabinet Secretary Kazungu Kambi has taken over the negotiations after his Education counterpart Jacob Kaimenyi failed to resolve the crisis last week.
Mr Kambi met with officials of the University Academic Staff Union (Uasu) and Kenya Universities Staff Union (Kusu) on Saturday and yesterday in a bid to find a solution to the strike that started last Monday.
The union officials said day that they were yet to be convinced to end the boycott. They have also brushed aside a court order obtained by the VCs stopping the strike.
“We are soldiering on. We have not been given any solution yet, so the strike goes on. We have been meeting with the VCs, but they are yet to meet our demands,” Kusu secretary-general Charles Mukhwaya said on the phone. Uasu chairman Sammy Kubasu said they were still open for dialogue despite a solution proving elusive so far.
Elsewhere, university managers in Mombasa have organised game tournaments from today to keep idle students busy as their lecturers and other workers continue with their strike.
“As managers, we are trying to make sure that lecturers willing to teach, especially part-timers, are left to do so,” Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) vice-chancellor Josephat Mwatelah said on Sunday.
Keep the students busy
“We are going to organise a tournament for football, basketball and netball to keep the students busy,” he added.
Mr Mwatelah said that if the strike takes longer than they anticipate, they will send the students home until the dispute they have with the staff unions is resolved.
Uasu TUM chapter leader Joseph Ngare praised Prof Kaimenyi for acknowledging that the problem lay with university managers, and pushing for investigations into the matter.
At the same time, Masinde Muliro University has pushed forward examinations scheduled for today due to the ongoing strike.
The vice-chancellor, Prof Fred Otieno, said that the registration of students was interrupted. “Students will have at least one week to complete the registration and prepare for the examinations that were pushed to March 24,” he said.
The lecturers and support staff started boycotting work last week, demanding payment of Sh3.9 billion, which is part of Sh7.8 billion negotiated in 2010.
Reported by Jeremiah Kiplang’at, Rebecca Okwany and John Shilitsa
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