Mike Ratemo @PeopleDailyKe
The government has given in to university lecturers demands and agreed to pay the Sh10 billion to end the ongoing national strike. Principal secretary in charge of University Education Prof Collete Suda said the balance of Sh5.2 billion would be paid to the dons by end month in addition to the Sh4.8 billion that the State released two weeks ago.
Suda made the disclosure in a letter to the chairperson of the Inter-Public Universities Council Consultative Forum Prof Paul Kanyari.
The letter dated July 13, 2017 stated in part: “I am pleased to inform you that the National Treasury has granted authority to the ministry to incur the expenditure of Sh5.2 billion towards the payment of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.”
Meanwhile, the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) has demanded for immediate resignation of Education Cabinet secretary Fred Matiang’i over alleged “gross abdication of duty”.
They also accused the CS of being insensitive to the welfare of university employees. The striking dons yesterday said the buck stops with Matiang’i having not implemented the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) they struck with the government in a return-to-work formulae last March.
“We are appalled by the way the Cabinet Secretary has handled this situation haphazardly. Even after a two week hiatus of lecturers skipping duty, he has not grasped the weight of the matter to negotiate for our dues as agreed in the CBA,” said Secretary General Dr Constantine Wesonga.
The union officials further demanded for a thorough audit of all university staff employees while alleging that they had discovered there exist more than 2,500 ghost workers on the payroll.
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