Moi University suspends UASU officials over strike

Moi University has suspended UASU officials due to the ongoing strike that has paralyzed learning for the last two months.

The union officials have also been blocked from accessing the university and have since been locked outside the main campus gates.

The officials led by UASU branch secretary Ojuki Nyabuta confirmed that they had received the suspension letters signed by Deputy Vice Chancellor for Administration Professor Kirimi Kiriamiti.

“We have received the suspension letters and are blocked from entering the main campus of the university," said Ojuki.

He said they had been forced to hold a meeting outside the university gate following the action by the management.]

“We will not be shaken and we remain on strike until we are paid all our salary-related dues," said Ojuki.

He said the university had also sent out show cause letters to the more than 1,000 lecturers who have been on strike.

The university reopened last week and students have reported back but learning remains paralyzed

UASU declined to attend meetings with Moi University management in the latest attempts to end the strike.

The attempts by Moi University management to reach a return to work formula with striking workers flopped again even as learning at the institution failed to resume.

Vice Chancellor Professor Isaac Kosgey had issued a circular directing that learning would resume at the college on Monday, November 11, 2024, but the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) declared that its members remained on strike until all salary dues amounting to over Sh11 billion was settled.

Ojuki said attempts to have a meeting to resolve the strike flopped because the management led by Kosgey invited the union for talks on Saturday and Sunday yet it’s only the council mandated to do so.

“The management is not our employer. The law says we are employed by the council which is the one with the mandate to negotiate with us and hence could not attend illegal meetings with management We have not met or signed any return to work deal and therefore our strike remains in place”, said Ojuki.

The parliamentary education committee had a week ago held a crisis meeting at Moi University amid the standoff between lecturers, other workers and the management.

Hundreds of the lecturers and other workers confronted the committee chaired by Nandi Hills MP Julius Melly demanding the removal of the management led by Vice-Chancellor Professor Isaac Kosgey.

The committee had directed the university administration to reach an immediate return to work deal with the workers but UASU said the directive was impracticable because a strike is a process that cannot be resolved easily.

“We are here to understand the actual situation and look into ways we can help to have the university resume normalcy,” said Melly.

He addressed the workers after a crisis meeting with representatives from worker’s unions UASU and KUSU along with the university management.

Melly told the workers that the university was facing serious challenges and that there may be a need for a change of management at the college.

Efforts to resolve the month-long strike by the workers have hit a snag as they demand to be paid all their salary-related dues amounting to over Sh10 billion.

The money includes Sh5 billion for the workers’ pension scheme and another Sh1.2 Billion for bank loans.

Ojuki said they were not part of the plan to reopen the university because they had not been paid their dues.

“We will not go back to class unless all our dues are paid. The management can reopen the university and do what they want but we are not part of that,” said Ojuki.