Motorists were forced to turn back or seek alternative routes as police officers moved in to disperse the protesting students

A section of Waiyaki Way during the UoN students strike./SCREENGRAB

Traffic along a section of the Waiyaki Way came to a halt on Tuesday as University of Nairobi students took to the streets to protest the lecturers’ strike, lighting bonfires and barricading sections of the highway with stones.

The students blocked the Waiyaki Way after exiting from Museum Hill towards Parklands.

The police later began removing the barricades in an effort to restore normal traffic flow.

The latest confrontation comes less than a week after a similar demonstration on October 21, when UoN students blocked sections of Waiyaki Way to demand an end to the lecturers’ strike and the resumption of academic activities.

During the earlier protest, students also lit bonfires and barricaded the road, prompting police intervention to disperse the demonstrators and clear the highway.

The renewed demonstrations highlight growing frustration among students over the prolonged disruption of learning, with concerns mounting over missed lectures, interrupted examinations and uncertainty surrounding the completion of academic programmes.

The protests come amid a nationwide lecturers’ strike that began on October 2, 2026, following a dispute over the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Negotiations between university staff unions and the government have remained contentious, with unions demanding firm financial commitments to implement the agreement, which covers salaries, allowances and other employment terms.

The dispute intensified after talks stalled over a government counteroffer of Sh11.9 billion for the four-year agreement, which the unions deemed inadequate.

Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga has maintained that the agreement must be supported by clear funding commitments, particularly from the National Treasury.

The strike has paralysed teaching in public universities, leaving thousands of students uncertain about when normal academic activities will resume.

Tuesday’s demonstrations add pressure on the government and university staff unions to reach an agreement and end the industrial action that continues to disrupt higher education across the country.