NAIROBI — Talks between the National Assembly Education Committee,university lecturers, and public universities failed to kick off on Tuesday amid a stalement over a strike declared unprotected by courts.
For the second consecutive week, the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) failed to provide the committee with documents confirming the government's commitment to disburse Sh4.3 billion to resume learning in higher education institutions.
This prompted Education Committee Chairperson Julius Melly to call off the meeting and summon three Cabinet Secretaries to help break the impasse that has kept students out of school for months.
The MPs summoned Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos, his Labor counterpart Alfred Mutua, and National Treasury CS John Mbadi to provide details on steps taken to end the strike.
"I will adjourn this session until we can have a properly constituted meeting, with the inter-ministerial committee present before this committee," said Melly.
The IPUCCF failed to confirm the availability of the Sh4.3 billion, which the exchequer is expected to release to end the strike.
IPUCCF Chairman Fred Simiyu Baraza stated that only the Ministry of Education could issue a confirmatory letter regarding the disbursement, explaining that it is not within the forum's authority to make such commitments.
"As an agency, IPUCCF does not issue commitment letters; we are under the Ministry of Education and do not have the document you are looking for," Baraza explained.
Rejected offer
Baraza informed the MPs that the council had previously allocated Sh1.6 billion to the university lecturers in an attempt to resolve the issue, but this was rejected.
The government then raised the allocation to Sh4.6 billion from the initial Sh9.6 billion to implement a return-to-work formula.
"We initially had Sh1.6 billion to implement the CBS, but when UASU walked out on us, they took the matter to the inter-ministerial committee, where the figure of Sh4.3 billion was proposed," Baraza said.
Lugari MP Nabii Nabwera commented that continuing to engage with IPUCCF on the matter would be futile and pushed for relevant agencies to be summoned instead.
"Any government agency negotiating on financial commitments must have prior approval, which cannot be verbal. Forcing an officer to provide a document he doesn't have is unproductive," Nabwera said.
Igembe North MP Julius Taitumu expressed disappointment, stating that the education committee was not taking the matter seriously, as the council had appeared before the House committee three times without presenting the required documents.
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"It's disrespectful to bring us here repeatedly without the necessary documents. If they don't have what we need, let's end this meeting. Why are they even here?" Taitumu questioned.
On October 22, 2024, the UASU National Secretary-General announced a seven-day notice for a nationwide strike across all public universities beginning on October 29, 2024.
This action followed the failure to implement the agreement signed on October 28, 2019, between UASU and the IPUCCF.
