UASU Issues Seven-Day Strike Notice, Sets October 1 for Nationwide Lecturers’ Strike

By Christopher mbiti 

Nairobi Kenya , September 24, 2026

The Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) has today issued a seven-day strike notice, warning that lecturers in public universities will down their tools nationwide from midnight on Thursday, October 1, 2026, unless the government addresses the union’s grievances.

In a press statement issued on Thursday, September 24, UASU Secretary General Dr. Constantine Wasonga said the planned strike follows what the union describes as the persistent failure by university councils, the Ministry of Education and the National Treasury to honour the Return-to-Work Formula signed on November 5, 2025.

A major concern raised by the union is the failure by the government to provide a financial counter-proposal for the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

UASU says lecturers in public universities remain without a concluded CBA, while other employees in the public education sector completed negotiations for their 2025–2029 agreements last year.

The union has also raised concerns over information it says was provided by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) on September 21, 2026. According to UASU, SRC informed university-sector unions that neither the Ministry of Education nor the National Treasury had provided a written commitment that funding for public university CBAs would be provided through the National Exchequer.

UASU says the lack of such a commitment has prevented SRC from issuing the constitutional advice required to facilitate financial counter-proposals.

The union is also questioning what it describes as indications that public university education could increasingly rely on student fees and market-based funding.

UASU maintains that academic staff in public universities are public officers and that their remuneration should continue to be funded through the National Exchequer.

Ends.