Parliament urges government to end 20-day university lecturers’ strike

The National Assembly has called on the Executive to urgently intervene and end the ongoing university lecturers’ strike, which continues to disrupt learning in public universities across the country.

With the strike entering its 20th day, Speaker Moses Wetangula led lawmakers in urging the government to resolve the impasse over the implementation of the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

“That the National Assembly petitions the Ministry of Finance to revisit the CBA and end the strike," he stated.

“Students are wasting away at home...” National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah stated.

Appearing before the National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Public Accounts, Higher Education Principal Secretary Beatrice Inyangala said the Ministry of Education was engaging stakeholders in a bid to break the deadlock and restore learning.

“We are engaging stakeholders with an aim of ending the stalemate.” she noted. 

The nationwide strike began on October 2, 2026, after negotiations between the Universities’ Academic Staff Union (UASU), the Kenya University Staff Union (KUSU) and the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) collapsed.

The unions are protesting what they describe as unilateral decisions on salaries, terms of service and working conditions, insisting that employment terms should be negotiated through a collective bargaining agreement rather than imposed through government circulars.

They also rejected a proposed Ksh.9.76 billion settlement, arguing that the amount was not negotiated with the unions.

Staff shortages and heavy workloads are among the other concerns raised by the lecturers, with UASU Secretary General Constantine Wasonga warning that the strike could continue for an extended period if the government does not change its position.

As Parliament pushes for a resolution, students in public universities continue to bear the brunt of the standoff, with lecture halls remaining deserted and learning at a standstill.