Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba has called on public university lecturers to end their strike, saying the government has fully cleared arrears owed to the dons under the 2017-2021 and 2021-2025 collective bargaining agreements (CBAs).
This as university staff remain on strike over the delayed 2025-2029 deal.
Speaking during World Teachers’ Day celebrations at Kasarani in Nairobi on Monday, Ogamba said the government had demonstrated its commitment to the welfare of university lecturers through payments and continued negotiations.
“The government has committed to safeguarding the welfare of all our lecturers and has demonstrated this commitment through action. As we speak today, all arrears under the 2017-2021 and 2021-2025 CBA have been fully cleared. We have resolved the problems of the historical arrears under the CPAs,” he said.
The latest university lecturers’ strike began on October 2, 2026, after negotiations between staff unions and the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) failed to produce an agreement on the 2025-2029 CBA. The industrial action involves UASU, KUSU and KUDHEIHA and has disrupted teaching and learning in public universities.
The dispute is the latest chapter in a prolonged disagreement over lecturers’ pay and employment terms.
The previous nationwide strike began on September 17, 2025, and lasted 49 days before unions and the government signed a return-to-work formula on November 5, 2025. The agreement provided for the payment of about Sh7.9 billion in arrears and committed the parties to concluding the 2025-2029 CBA.
At the time, lecturers were demanding payment of Sh2.73 billion under the 2021-2025 CBA, alongside Sh8.8 billion in arrears from the 2017-2021 agreement, and negotiation and implementation of the new CBA.
Government figures subsequently showed payments of Sh4.3 billion covering salaries up to June 2025, followed by another Sh2.73 billion due in July 2025. The government said the latter amount was settled after the strike notice, with a further Sh2.73 billion scheduled for June 2026.
This brings the government’s stated payments towards the 2021-2025 CBA to about Sh9.76 billion, although the broader 2017-2021 arrears remained a major source of disagreement during the 2025 dispute.
The new conflict centres largely on the 2025-2029 CBA, which covers a four-year period from July 2025 to June 2029.
UASU has proposed salary increases ranging from 36% to 68%, depending on academic grade, alongside a 57% increase in house allowance, commuter allowances of up to Sh60,000, and other benefits. The union’s proposal also seeks higher research and professional allowances, as well as car loans and mortgages.
Under the union’s proposed structure, the highest professor salary would rise to more than Sh580,000 a month at full implementation, while it has proposed an average annual basic salary increase of about 6% across grades.
The government, through IPUCCF, has proposed an allocation of Sh9.76 billion for the new CBA. UASU has rejected the figure, arguing that the four-year agreement has broader demands than the previous deal and cannot be funded at the same level.
The unions have also rejected a proposed 4% annual salary increment, describing it as inadequate and insisting on the immediate negotiation, signing and implementation of the 2025-2029 agreement.
Ogamba said the government was committed to timely negotiations and conclusion of future agreements.
“It is with this same spirit that we have committed to timely negotiation and conclusion of all future collective bargaining agreements, including the 2025-2029 CPA.”
The CS appealed to university staff unions and lecturers to end the strike and return to work, arguing that outstanding issues could be resolved through negotiations.
“I therefore call upon all the university staff unions and individual lecturers to re-affirm this good faith, obey God's orders, and return to work. Let us not interrupt the education of our children, our students, over matters that the government has demonstrated that it is ready and willing to resolve at the negotiating table,” he said.
However, the unions maintain that the government’s financial proposal falls short of their demands. The disagreement has left thousands of university students facing disruption as negotiations over the new CBA continue.