UASU Ends Month-Long Lecturers' Strike After Government Commits KSh 20B to Pay DealUASU Ends Month-Long Lecturers' Strike After Government Commits KSh 20B to Pay Deal
Key Highlights
- Public university lecturers return to class on Monday after a four-week walkout that kept students at home through October.
- The final settlement sits far closer to the government's opening offer than to the figure the union first put on the table.
- Arrears stretching back to July 2025 will reach pay slips in stages, with one tranche landing in January 2027 salaries.
The government will pay KSh 20B (about $154M) over three financial years to fund new pay deals for public university staff, ending a lecturers' strike that began on 2 October.
The Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) signed a return-to-work formula with the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum on Friday 30 October, and its members are due back at work on Monday 2 November, Kenyans.co.ke reported.
The deal reopens lecture halls for public university students who lost a month of teaching, and it settles the 2025 to 2029 collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) that the union said had been stuck for close to a year.
For the National Treasury it adds a multi-year wage commitment just as Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi prepares what Business Daily describes as the first mini-budget of the 2026/27 financial year, due in November.
KSh 20B Paid in Three Instalments to 2028/29
The money will be released in three tranches, according to the signed formula.
| Financial year | Amount |
|---|---|
| 2026/27 | KSh 6.7B (about $51.58M) |
| 2027/28 | KSh 6.7B (about $51.58M) |
| 2028/29 | KSh 6.6B (about $50.81M) |
| Total | KSh 20B (about $153.96M) |
Under the agreement, basic monthly salaries rise by 3.5% a year for four years, backdated to 1 July 2025. The formula also provides an automatic annual increment of 5% and harmonises commuter, leave, and passage and baggage allowances across the public universities.
For illustration, a lecturer on a basic salary of KSh 100,000 ($770) a month would gain about KSh 3,500 ($27) a month in the first year from the 3.5% rise alone, before increments and allowances.
Arrears Reach Pay Slips in Stages
Arrears for the 2025/26 financial year, from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026, will be paid in three instalments. Money owed for July to December 2026 will be added to January 2027 salaries.
The formula also protects striking staff. Universities must withdraw disciplinary cases linked to the strike, and lecturers on contract will not lose renewals because they took part. UASU urged students to return to their studies at once.
From KSh 98B Demand to KSh 20B Settlement
The final figure is a fraction of the union's opening position. Lecturers had sought about KSh 98B ($754.43M), while the government first offered about KSh 11.96B ($92.07M), which UASU Secretary General Constantine Wasonga dismissed as "awfully inadequate", Dawan Africa reported.
Wasonga announced a verbal agreement on Wednesday 28 October, saying the technical teams still had to put the terms on paper. The talks ran through an inter-ministerial committee and also involved the Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU), the domestic and hospital workers' union KUDHEIHA, and the Ministries of Education and Labour.
Pressure on Kenya's Public Wage Bill
The settlement adds to a public payroll the government is already struggling to contain. Kenya's public wage bill of about KSh 1.3T has kept rising as hiring has outpaced exits, a trend Mwenendo examined in its analysis of public sector pay.
Spreading the cost over three years keeps the immediate hit to about KSh 6.7B this financial year, but universities will need the Treasury to release each tranche on time. The union's complaint this year centred on a CBA left unconcluded for close to a year, so the timing of the first payment and the January 2027 arrears will be the first test of the deal.
In Summary
- What was agreed?
- A return-to-work formula under which the government provides KSh 20B (about $154M) to fund the 2025 to 2029 collective bargaining agreements for public university staff.
- When do lecturers return?
- The formula was signed on Friday 30 October 2026, and UASU members are due back at work on Monday 2 November. The strike began on 2 October.
- How will the money be paid?
- In three tranches: KSh 6.7B in 2026/27, KSh 6.7B in 2027/28 and KSh 6.6B in 2028/29. Basic pay rises 3.5% a year for four years from 1 July 2025.
- Who signed the deal?
- UASU and the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum, after talks through an inter-ministerial committee that also involved KUSU, KUDHEIHA and the Ministries of Education and Labour.
- Why does it matter beyond campuses?
- It adds a three-year wage commitment to a public payroll of about KSh 1.3T as the Treasury prepares its first mini-budget of 2026/27.