Lecturers demand release of their full salaries

Academic staff at public universities have demanded the release of their full salaries as ordered by a court.

They accuse universities of withholding part of their salaries and paying them way below what was negotiated.

Universities had accumulated huge salary arrears, said Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu), which represents workers ranging from graduate assistants to professors.

For instance, the gross arrears for a professor in Egerton University amount to Sh615,408, University of Nairobi Sh307,704, Tom Mboya Sh215,393 and Maasai Mara University Sh481,780

An associate professor at Egerton is owed Sh847,140, at UoN Sh423,564, Tom Mboya Sh296,495 and Maasai Mara Sh663,195.

In a letter to University Education and Research Principal Secretary Simon Nabukwesi, Uasu secretary-general Constantine Wasonga said implementation of the 2017-2021 collective bargaining   agreement (CBA) was chaotic and causing distress among lecturers.

He said “28 out of the 35 public universities continue to pay academic staff basic salary below the scales agreed in the 2017-2021 CBA”.

Universities such as UoN, Kenyatta, Jomo Kenyatta and Technical University of Kenya, he said, are underpaying academic staff.

“Only seven universities and university colleges out of 35 have so far placed academic staff in the correct basic salary scale at the levels specified in the 2017-2021 CBA,” he said.

The universities include Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Chuka, Kibabii, Masinde Muliro, Garissa, Alupe and Kaimosi Friends.

Dr Wasonga said the universities were implementing the CBA in their own way against a court order and have amassed huge arrears while some had retained the balance of funds though the Treasury had released the money to pay staff.

The Treasury had released Sh6.6 billion to universities to pay academic staff under the agreement.

Although the CBA expired in June 30, he said, the negotiated salaries remain in force until a new CBA for 2021-2025 is negotiated and signed.

In some universities such as Tom Mboya, administrators were making unexplained deductions of up to 30 percent of the amount due to workers, Dr Wasonga said.

Some universities also froze promotions and annual raises while others have not.

In other instances, he said, universities have used money meant for academic staff to pay vice-chancellors, their deputies and other management staff who were not covered by the CBA.

The 2017-2021 CBA was signed in October 2019. It was registered in court in July 2020 and universities were directed to implement it on an interim basis.

In January 15 this year, the Employment and Labour Relations Court ordered that the CBA be fully implemented except for the clause on retirement age.

Initially, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission had indicated that the total cost of the CBA was Sh8.8 billion. But the January 15 court judgment found that the true cost was Sh13.812 billion, excluding pension liabilities.

Uasu wants the Ministry of Education to intervene and facilitate disbursement of Sh2.2 billion already appropriated for in the CBA.

They also want the ministry to audit how the Sh6.6 billion already disbursed was used and facilitate the disbursement of Sh5.012 billion in arrears under the CBA and Sh2.76 billion meant for pension liabilities.