Union wants varsities to honour Sh3.9b deal

By ABIGAEL SUM

The Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) wants the management of public universities to honour the Sh3.9 billion pay deal intended for a second phase of staff salaries and house allowances.

The union’s national executive council committee protested that only half of the Sh7.8 billion disbursed by the government had been paid out.

Second phase

KUSU Secretary-General Charles Mukhwaya said the money meant for the second phase of the 2010-2013 CBA ought to have been to be paid to the staff by June 30, this year.

“Although the government has fully honoured its part by releasing the funds, only Sh3.9 billion has been release for staff salaries and house allowances. The rest of the money has mysteriously disappeared into thin air,” Mukhwaya told a press conference in Nairobi yesterday.

The official asked the 31 universities and colleges to shed light on the matter.

The union said it had tried to engage the universities over the matter without success.

“We need this information to pass it to our members because their patience has run out. Why are they not willing to share this information? What are they hiding?” posed Mukhwaya.

“If universities are not able to pay the staff the money they are holding, and the government does not conduct an audit, we will call on our members to boycott their duties,” added Wayaya Ombunya, KUSU’s national organising secretary.

The union wants the vice chancellors to honour the CBA as agreed last September between the union and the Inter-Public University Council Consultative Forum and the Federation of Kenya Employers.

The Sh7.8 billion was to be paid in two phases; Sh3.9 billion was paid by December 5, last year, after KUSU and the University Academic Staff Union settled on a 33.1 per cent increase of their basic salary and 14.27 per cent increase on their house allowances to be paid in two phases backdated to July 1, 2010, and was supposed to run until July 1, 2013.