Kenya's government and public university staff unions were due to sign on Friday afternoon a Sh20 billion pay deal to end a four week strike that has shut 35 public universities.
Mereja could not confirm by publication whether the signing took place.
The University Academic Staff Union (UASU), the Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) and KUDHEIHA, the union that represents non-teaching staff in universities and other institutions, reached a verbal deal with the government on Wednesday after talks with Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba, Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi and Internal Security Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo, Kenyan media reported. The signing and the official end of the strike were set for 3 PM on Friday, October 30, and lecturers are expected back in class on Monday, November 2.
The money covers basic salaries and allowances under the 2025 to 2029 collective bargaining agreements, UASU Secretary General Constantine Wasonga said. "Today we have agreed on a figure we have negotiated with the government. Not a figure imposed on the union," he said, according to the Daily Nation. The breakthrough followed a meeting at State House convened by the Head of Public Service, Felix Koskei, The Star reported. The unions had rejected the government's previous offer of about Sh12 billion as equal to a three percent increase in basic pay, Bizna Kenya (@biznakenya) reported. Wasonga told students to start returning to campus. "To comrades, start walking towards your universities. I want to assure you that from Monday, you shall have your lessons," he said, according to Kenyans.co.ke. In a message to lecturers, he listed how the government's offers had grown, from Sh3.1 billion to Sh9.76 billion, Sh11.95 billion and finally Sh20 billion, the Daily Nation reported. In a Friday account of the talks at a Nairobi hotel, the paper said the government raised its offer from Sh12 billion to Sh14 billion and then Sh16 billion during about three hours of bargaining before settling on Sh20 billion over the life of the agreement. "We were at Sh98 billion initially, so we had to come down," an official involved in the talks told the paper.
The Kenyan Vigilante (@KenyanSays), a news account, called it a "monumental deal" and wrote that negotiations peaked on Wednesday with Wasonga, Ogamba and the Treasury at the table. University heads also took part in the talks, Bizna Kenya reported.
The strike began on October 2 and paralyzed teaching, examinations and graduation plans across the public university system. University of Nairobi students angry at the long talks blocked Waiyaki Way twice this week, Kenyans.co.ke reported.
Many students greeted the news with relief, but also with fatigue. Radio Kaya (@RadioKaya), a station on the Kenyan coast, reported in Swahili that lecturers had suspended the strike after reaching the agreement and that classes were expected to resume on Monday.
The deal leaves several issues open, The Star reported. Teaching staff had sought basic salary increases of between 36 and 68 percent and house allowances of up to 58 percent, depending on grade, and the Sh20 billion is far below the Sh98 billion the unions demanded. Wasonga did not say whether the money covers medical insurance, and the unions are still seeking Sh7.9 billion in arrears from the expired 2021 to 2025 agreement, for which they have asked the National Assembly's Education Committee to intervene, according to the paper. Wasonga also did not say how the money would be shared among staff or when it would be paid.
Wasonga said the unions would formally call off the strike at 3 PM on Friday, The Star reported.