Friday, November 1, 2024 - Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos has moved to absolve President William Ruto from the blame over the university dons’ strike.
Appearing before the Senate,
Migos disclosed the miscalculation of the percentage salary increase as the
main point of contention with the University Academic Staff Union (UASU)
whose members downed their tools on Monday, October 29, at midnight.
The CS stated that the
government and UASU are differing on the exact figure of increments which lay
between 7 per cent and 10 per cent agreed upon in their 2021 -2025 National
Collective Bargain Agreement (CBA) signed in 2019.
“The challenge between us
(government) and UASU on the return-to-work formula for lecturers is we agreed
on a 7 per cent and 10 per cent increment, but the figure that the government
has against the figure that UASU has differs with about Ksh5 billion,” CS Migos
explained.
According to Migos, UASU has
presented a different figure that is in excess of what the government has
calculated, which ended up stalling the negotiations.
“When we calculate with the 7
per cent and 10 per cent with the 4 per cent annual increment, the figure comes
to Ksh4.3 billion,” he stated.
On the other hand, UASU
maintained that according to their calculations, Ksh4.3 billion does not
translate to 7 per cent and 10 per cent increments as agreed in the CBA.
Migos explained that when an estimated
figure by UASU of Ksh9 billion is calculated, the increment moves from 7 per
cent and 10 per cent to a different percentage.
“When simulations were done, the
figure that the government had against the figure that UASU had, differs by
almost Ksh5 billion. That is the discussion we are having to find out what is
the reason for the difference in the calculations,” he elaborated.
However, he promised to work
with the other party to arrive at a middle ground and agree that this is the
actual figure.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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