Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino has recently urged university students across the country to show solidarity with their lecturers as a strike due to lack of pay continues.
Speaking on October 5, Babu noted that lecturers deserve better remuneration and should not be pressured into accepting agreements that do not address their financial struggles.
As such, he called on students to take decisive action in support of their educators.
Babu Owino Calls for Unity Between Students and Lecturers Amid Salary Row. Photo:Courtesy.
“I want to tell the comrades in this country that you must stand with your lecturers and close the universities. The lecturers must be paid, and lecturers should not agree to sign anything if there is no money in their pockets. To the teachers, the salaries you earn are not proportional to the work you do,” Babu noted.
For nearly three weeks, lecturers have continued their strike, vowing not to resume teaching until issues surrounding the implementation of their Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) are resolved.
They claim the government still owes them Ksh7.9 billion from the 2021 agreement.
However, in an interview on Saturday, October 4, Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi distanced his ministry from the ongoing lecturers’ strike, stating that the matter falls under the Ministry of Education and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).
He dismissed allegations that the Treasury had neglected its duties, emphasizing that the government had already met its financial obligations.
