Salasya calls for action on lecturers’ strike crisis
By Kenneth Mwenda, October 2, 2025Mumias East Constituency Member of Parliament Peter Salasya has urged the government to urgently resolve the lecturers’ strike, which has entered its third week.
Taking to X, on Thursday, October 2, 2025, Mumias East MP Peter Salasya said he was deeply concerned about the strike, which he said was crippling higher education.
“I’m really deeply concerned about the ongoing lecturers’ strike crippling our 39 public universities, affecting 500,000+ students,” he posted on his X account.
“The government must urgently address the KSh 11.5B CBA arrears & fund education properly. Things are getting out of hand. As of now, the strike has entered its third week .”
Salasya said the strike was jeopardising the future of thousands of students and called on the Ministry of Education and the Treasury to act fast. He also warned that continued inaction would damage confidence in Kenya’s public universities.
A day earlier, Embakasi East MP Babu Owino criticised the government for what he described as a lack of seriousness in dealing with the lecturers’ demands.
“This week, Kenya’s lecturers’ strike enters its third week, one of the worst crises in years. It has paralysed learning, disrupted research, and left thousands of students stranded,” Babu said in his post on Wednesday, 1 October.
He added that the government still owed Ksh7.9 billion from the 2017–2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and KSh 2.73 billion from Phase II of the 2021–2025 CBA.
“Despite releasing KSh 2.5 billion, the damage is done. Students risk losing a semester, research is stalled, graduations are delayed, and dreams are postponed,” he said.
The lecturers’ strike
The strike began on 17 September after the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) and the Kenya University Staff Union (KUSU) declared that the state had failed to honour long-standing financial commitments. The unions insist that lecturers are owed billions in arrears dating back years.
At a joint press briefing in Nairobi on Wednesday, UASU National Chairperson Grace Nyongesa vowed that the lecturers would not return to class until all their demands were met.
“We shall remain outside until the issues raised are addressed. There are no negotiations currently underway,” she said.
Nyongesa added that the government must implement the 2021–2025 CBA in full and immediately open talks for the 2025–2029 CBA. She said unions were tired of negotiating agreements at the end of each cycle and losing value to inflation.
KUSU Secretary-General Charles Mukhwaya accused vice chancellors and university councils of misleading the public. He reminded them that the Attorney General had issued an advisory and the court had ordered payment of the CBAs.
“Vice Chancellors and Councils are lying to the public and running away from facts. We cannot negotiate a court judgment. Let them pay,” he said.
The Education Cabinet Secretary, Julius Ogamba, has urged lecturers to resume classes, warning that they risk disciplinary action for defying a court order suspending the strike. He said the Treasury had released Ksh2.5 billion to implement part of the 2021–2025 CBA.
However, the unions maintain that the money released is insufficient. They argue that only full settlement of all arrears will bring the strike to an end.