Gov’t, lecturers lock horns over Ksh 10B pay deal

The Government has accused lecturers of being insincere on the pay rise deal.

Education Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Fred Matiang’i, says the Ministry of Education has already paid out Ksh 4.775 billion of the Ksh 10 billion agreed in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

He has appealed to university union, University Academic staff Union (UASU), to withdraw its planned strike set for Monday, July 3 and encourage its members to go on with their duties uninterrupted.

Matiang’i says the government is committed to meet its side of the bargain and the unions noting that implementation of the CBAs will straddle the two-financial years; 2016/2017 and 2017/2018.

He says rest of the amount will come from the 2017/2018 Financial Year, saying that there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for any of the university unions to resort to industrial action.

But the Universities Academic Staff Union insists its members will down their tools on Monday after the government failed to release Ksh 10 billion.

Secretary General, Constantine Wasonga, has accused the government of being insincere by failing to honor the CBA.