Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba has urged striking university lecturers to return to work, saying the government is ready to resolve outstanding issues under the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Speaking during the 10th graduation ceremony at Thika Technical Training Institute on Friday, October 23, Ogamba said the government had cleared all historical salary arrears under previous agreements and was committed to negotiating the current CBA on time.
“For our universities, the Government has demonstrated its commitment to staff welfare by clearing all arrears under the 2017–2021 and 2021–2025 Collective Bargaining Agreements. As we speak today, there are no historical arrears under any Collective Bargaining Agreements,” Ogamba said.
The CS said the government was ready to continue negotiations with university staff unions to resolve outstanding differences under the 2025–2029 agreement.
He urged lecturers to resume teaching and allow discussions to continue, warning that prolonged disruption could affect students’ education.
“My plea to our university staff is this: let us not unduly interrupt the education of our students over matters that the Government has already demonstrated willingness and readiness to address,” the CS said.
The appeal comes as the dispute over the new CBA continues to affect learning in public universities, with staff seeking the resolve outstanding employment and remuneration issues.
Ogamba said the government is committed to concluding negotiations and called on lecturers and their unions to allow the process to resolve the remaining points of disagreement.
The planned protests come amid a deepening dispute between university staff unions and the government over the implementation of the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
UASU Nationwide Lecturers Strike
The Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) issued a seven-day nationwide strike notice, with lecturers in public universities set to down their tools from midnight on Friday, October 2, 2026.
In an announcement on September 24, the union said the strike follows the failure by university councils, the Ministry of Education and the National Treasury to honour the Return-to-Work Formula signed on November 5, 2025.
“The strike shall commence at midnight next Friday, 2nd October 2026. This painful decision follows the persistent failure by the councils of universities, the Ministry of Education, and the National Treasury to honour the Return-to-Work Formula signed on 5th November 2025,” read part of the announcement.
UASU protested the failure to conclude negotiations on the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The union said the Government has not yet tabled a financial counterproposal nearly a year after negotiations began.
The union also demanded that the Ministry of Education and the National Treasury commit to funding the CBA from the National Exchequer.
It wanted the Government to maintain the public officer status of public university lecturers and include a provision in the Tertiary Education Placement and Funding Bill, 2026, the safeguard academic staff remuneration through the Exchequer.
University Lecturers Reject Ksh 12B Offer as Strike Talks Collapse
On Monday, October 12, UASU and the Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) reportedly rejected a KSh12 billion government offer aimed at ending the strike and securing the lecturers’ return to work.
The unions wanted the government to address the specific issues raised by university staff and fully implement the agreed terms rather than focus solely on the latest pay offer.
UASU Secretary General Dr Constantine Wasonga described the government’s proposal as inadequate and said it did not meet the union’s demands.
“The counteroffer from the government is awfully inadequate, and we have rejected it in total,” Wasonga stated.
The collapse of the talks marked another setback in efforts to resolve the dispute, with the negotiations having failed for the second time since lecturers began their nationwide strike on Friday, October 2.
The union accused university councils, the Ministry of Education and the National Treasury of failing to honour a return-to-work formula signed on November 5, 2025.
UASU has also faulted the government for failing to present a financial counterproposal for the 2025–2029 CBA, despite negotiations having continued since last year.
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