This archive report was first published on 11 November 2021.
On November 10, 2021, Egerton University in Njoro, Kenya, was brought to a standstill as lecturers and workers took to the streets to protest their unpaid salaries.
The strike, which was sparked by the university's failure to honor the collective bargaining agreement (CBA), resulted in the cancellation of ongoing exams and disrupted the Continuous Assessment Tests (CATs) for students.
Kenya University Staff Union Branch chairperson Kipchumba Ruto declared that the staff would not offer services until the management responded to their grievances, stating, 'We served the management with a notice of withdrawing our services if they won't have complied by today. We have heard nothing from them yet.'
University Academic Staff Union (Uasu) chairperson Prof Mwaniki Ngari accused the university's management of dishonoring the CBA, which was accepted nationwide in 2017. He stated, 'Whatever we are demanding for is not unique to Egerton. It is what is provided for under the 2017-2021 CBA which was registered in court in January for all public universities.'
Prof Mwaniki also revealed that this was not the first time the university had failed to honor work agreements, citing a previous agreement on a 40 percent pay cut that the university had failed to implement.
However, Egerton University Vice-Chancellor Prof Isaac Kibwage disputed the claims, stating, 'The staff are demanding money that the university doesn't have. It is a CBA that was signed nationally, and the government has not given sufficient capitation to cater for it.'
