Council of Governors’ Committee on Education Chairperson Erick Mutai has appealed to the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) to call off the ongoing strike in public universities, which has entered its eighth week.
Speaking on Monday, November 3, 2025, Mutai expressed concern over the prolonged industrial action, warning that the strike threatens to derail the entire academic calendar. He noted that the Council of Governors, working alongside the Education Committees of both the National Assembly and the Senate, is ready to facilitate talks between the union and the government to end the stalemate.
“Realising that the nation has been experiencing tough economic times, I urge UASU and the Ministry of Education to find a middle ground so that studies can resume. The ongoing strike is threatening to throw out an entire academic semester,” Mutai stated.
The lecturers’ strike, which began in early September 2025, has paralysed learning in nearly all public universities nationwide. The union has maintained its stance, rejecting the government’s proposal to pay Ksh7.9 billion in salary arrears in two phases.
UASU Secretary General Constantine Wesonga reiterated that the union will not resume teaching until the government honours its commitments in full, accusing it of backtracking on previous agreements.
“We have seen this pattern before — promises made and later broken. This time, we will not move until every cent owed to lecturers is paid,” Wesonga insisted.
The impasse has thrown university operations into chaos, with students facing disrupted lessons, delayed examinations, and postponed graduations. The first semester, initially set to end in mid-December, now hangs in uncertainty, as institutions remain open but without active teaching.
Unless an agreement is reached soon, thousands of students could lose an entire semester a setback that would deepen the crisis in Kenya’s higher education sector.
