The financially troubled Moi University was expected to reopen today but classes may not resume, as striking teaching and non-teaching staff have vowed to continue their industrial action.

Speaking to the media in Eldoret, representatives of lecturers under the University Academic Staff Union (UASU) issued two conditions that must be met before they return to lecture halls.

Lecturers want the government to settle more than Sh10 billion in salary and statutory deduction arrears. They are also demanding that top  university administrators be removed, blaming them for Moi’s financial and management woes.

“We will not step into the lecture rooms any time soon until the government, through the Ministry of Education, meets our demands,” warned Moi UASU chapter chairman Richard Okero.

Administrators, he said, should not have announced that the university would reopen before resolving outstanding issues that had led to its indefinite closure one month ago.

Okero called on parents and guardians to keep their children at home, saying there will be no lecturers to teach them.

“Please, do not release your students to come to the campus until you hear from the lecturers first,” he added.

More than 3,000 lecturers and non-teaching staff have boycotted work for over 70 days, demanding, among other things, delayed salaries and the release of pension cash estimated at Sh5 billion.

Crisis meetings

Embattled Moi Vice Chancellor Prof Isaac Kosgey had announced a programme of activities ahead of the planned reopening.

These included a series of meetings with stakeholders, including the National Assembly’s Education Committee. MPs were scheduled to hold a crisis meeting at the university amid the stand-off.

On Friday, hundreds of striking university workers blocked the Tinderet MP Julius Melly-led committee from meeting administrators.

The workers confronted committee members and demanded the removal of top managers, saying the university needed a fresh start.

They were heard shouting, “Haturudi kazi (we’re not going back to work),” as they held placards outside the administration block.

Caretaker management

This prompted Melly to address the workers briefly before heading to a meeting with representatives of the workers’ unions – UASU and Kenya Universities Staff Union – and administrators.

“Representing the parliamentary Committee on Education, I want to tell the vice chancellor and the management [that] no one should be victimised in any way,” he said amid applause from hundreds of workers.

He added: “You have been very patient and have sacrificed your life. All my members are here. We are 15 members on my committee, and what we have seen here, we have never seen anywhere.

“I want to assure you that all that you have said, and one of the things you have discussed here is a caretaker management.”

UASU branch secretary Ojuki Nyabuta said lecturers had not been involved in the administrator’ plans to reopen the university.

“We will not return to class unless all our dues are paid. The management can reopen the university and do what they want, but we are not part of that,” he said.

Moi University UASU chapter chairman Richard Okero speaks in Eldoret, saying lecturers’ industrial action will continue. PHOTO/Winstone Cheseremi