University Vice-Chancellors are set to meet Members of Parliament next week to table their grievances over staff Ksh2.2 billion salary arrears.
The lecturers stated that they are yet to receive enhanced pay despite signing the 2017/21 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in October 2019.
They affirmed that the government had only released Ksh6.6 billion funds earlier in the year out of the Ksh8.8 billion agreed.
The majority of the funds released, they claimed, only settled administrative expenses and students’ facilitation as well as part of university worker's salaries.
The VCs have called for the release of the remaining funds to end trouble with the staff workers.
University Academic Staff Union (UASU) officials however claimed that the government had fulfilled its end of the bargain by releasing all the funds during the annual capitation in July.
This argument was countered by the VCs who claimed that they were short-changed during the process.
"They (government) deducted monies from the annual capitation to universities to cover the Ksh 2.2 billion balance that was needed and sent universities the remaining money as capitation,” noted one VC who spoke to a local media house.
Another pertinent issue caused by the delay of the funds was the inability of the universities to adjust to the new scales issued by a court order earlier in the year.
Under the new salary scales, professors who currently earn a monthly salary of Ksh 170,681 would have their pay increased to Ksh 180,434 in the first year of implementation and Ksh190,187 in the subsequent year.
This amount would be scaled to Ksh 199,940 and Ksh 209,693 in the third and fourth month respectively.
Lecturers were also meant to get a pay rise of between Ksh2,795 and Ksh4,919. Assistant lecturers/tutors would also receive a salary increment between Ksh 3,561 and Ksh 5,392.
University Education PS Simon Nabukwesi linked low funding to staffing challenges facing universities. He noted that these problems ought to be addressed in the meeting.
