Kenya's university unions sign KSh 20bn deal to end strike; lectures resume 2 November

Three unions representing staff at Kenya's public universities signed a return-to-work agreement with the government on 30 October, ending a strike that began on 2 October. The Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU), the Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) and the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (KUDHEIHA) signed in the presence of Dr Beatrice Muganda Inyangala, Principal Secretary for Higher Education, Kenya Today reported on 31 October. Lectures resume on 2 November.

The agreement is worth KSh 20 billion and funds the 2025–2029 collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The money is to be released in three tranches: KSh 6.7 billion in the 2026/27 financial year, KSh 6.7 billion in 2027/28 and KSh 6.6 billion in 2028/29.

Salaries rise by 3.5 per cent a year and automatic increments rise by 5 per cent. Kenya Today said the monthly commuter allowance for the lowest cadre of staff goes from KSh 3,500 to KSh 18,000.

Inyangala said all university staff are expected to resume duty immediately, and university managements are to work with staff and students to revise academic schedules and recover lost teaching time. UASU Secretary-General Dr Constantine Wasonga said the agreement protects staff from victimisation for taking part in the strike. The agreement also withdraws disciplinary action taken during the dispute and leaves contract renewals unaffected. Wasonga apologised to students for the disruption.

Fica News reported on 17 October, in "Kenyan lecturers petition Treasury; UoN students set 72-hour deadline as strike goes on", that UASU members handed a petition to Treasury officials on 15 October and that the University of Nairobi Students' Association had given the government 72 hours to end the strike. At that point the unions had rejected a KSh 12 billion partial-payment offer and were asking for basic-salary rises of 36 per cent to 68 per cent depending on grade, and KSh 7.9 billion in arrears. Wasonga put the number of university students at about 700,000 and of lecturers at about 10,000.

Wasonga announced a verbal agreement on 28 October. "We have a deal on the financials," he said, as quoted by the Kenyan news site Kenyans.co.ke. The government had raised its offer to KSh 20 billion, covering basic salaries and allowances under the 2025–2029 CBA, and the lecturers accepted it.

The government's earlier offers were KSh 12 billion and, on 26 October, KSh 11.96 billion from an inter-ministerial committee. The unions rejected both. The Mogadishu-based Horn of Africa news site Dawan Africa reported that the lecturers had demanded KSh 98 billion. Wasonga said the remaining step after the verbal deal was for a technical team to "put together, on pen and paper, what we agreed on".

The strike, called by UASU, KUSU and KUDHEIHA, stopped learning in 35 public institutions. University of Nairobi students closed Waiyaki Way twice during the week of the talks, Kenyans.co.ke reported.

The previous strike lasted 49 days and ended on 5 November 2025 with a deal that gave the parties 30 days to conclude the 2025–2029 CBA. That deadline was missed.