Teaching and non-teaching staff at the Technical University of Mombasa carry placards in protest / BRIAN OTIENO
Technical University of Mombasa lecturers and non-teaching staff protest outside the university on Friday / BRIAN OTIENOTeaching and non-teaching staff at the Technical University of Mombasa on Friday launched their strike in solidarity with their nationwide counterparts throwing the academic calendar into disarray.
The lecturers and staff of the university said they have had enough of unkept promises by the government every time they advocate for their rights.
The Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu), Kenya Universities Staff Union (Kusu) and the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions and Hospitals and Allied Workers (Kudheiha) members in the university on Friday said learners will have to suffer for as long as the university staff suffer.
“We are doing this on the behalf of our national secretary general,” Uasu TUM Chapter secretary Prof Josiah Ochieng Odalo said.
The Professor of Chemistry said they downed their tools for main three issues.
He said the government has not honoured the 30-day window period they gave the unions last November 5, in which they were to negotiate, sign, register and implement the 2025-2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement.
“The government has also failed to commit to fund the emoluments for employees working in public universities. We are saying that we are not going to be paid from the fees collected from students,” Prof Odalo said.
He noted that they are public officers and the Article 260 of the Constitution states that they must be paid from funds from the Exchequer or monies appropriated from Parliament.
“We cannot do that through students’ collected fees,” the Uasu chapter secretary said.
The University staff also have a bone to pick with the proposed Higher Education Placement and Funding Bill, 2026 which they described as defective.
“There is no way the government can only mention our emoluments in the definition section of that Bill. Our monies must be through the Exchequer,” Prof Odalo said.
He said they had discussed with the Inter-Public University Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) on matters generic human resource instruments but university vice-chancellors went behind their backs and changed the articles that had been negotiated and agreed upon before it was submitted to the Public Service Commission.
“We are saying, as Uasu, that document must be reopened, re-negotiated, and agreed upon before being re-submitted to the PSC.
He pleaded with the public to bear with them as they battle for their rights.
“Once we are through with this battle, your children will be able to go back to learning. But for now, we are off duty until otherwise directed,” Prof Odalo said.
Kusu TUM chapter deputy secretary Justus Ichingwa said the CBA `2025-2029 cycle has been a back and forth issue.
“We have given our offer. The government side has not brought their offer and here we are. This was an issue in our strike last year and the government gave their promises but the same mouth that said Kenya will never again witness strike over CBA has failed to honour its end of the bargain,” Ichingwa said.
He said they will dig in until the 2025-2029 CBA is fully signed, registered and implemented in totality.
“We are in 2026. We don’t want the issue of backlogs where the government will bring us to the table to start negotiating about payments of the pending CBAs,” Ichingwa said.
Her said staff employees will not be paid like matatu conductors, who ask for their pay from the people they carry in the matatus.
“Universities are not going tom pay their staff through student fees. As the university staff, we are public servants, and the way lawyers are not paid through the fees and fines in the court, the university staff are not going tom be paid through student fees,” Ichingwa said.
He said they will not accept human resource instruments that are going to injure the staff in the universities.
“Universities are not going to be the dustbins. Respect is what we demand as the university staff,” he said.
Kusu deputy treasurer Rita Mung’ina said they will not relent until their demands are met.
“We’ve just launched it and we will go ahead. Kusu, Uasu and Kudheiha have given out their reasons and those reasons should be heard.
“Give to Kusu what belongs to Kusu, give to Uasu what belongs to Uasu and give Kudheiha what belongs to Kudheiha,” Mung’ina said.
They have vowed not to go to class or office until their demands are met.
Joseph Musyoka, the Kudheiha TUM shop steward, said the government has dishonoured them and is no longer listening to them.
“We cannot keep on working and we are not paid well. A hungry person cannot work,” he said.
