The lecturers’ strike enters its second week today after the dons and vice-chancellors failed to find a solution at the weekend. This was despite concerted efforts by the government to push them to find a way out of the stalemate. Labour Cabinet Secretary Kazungu Kambi has taken over the negotiations after his Education counterpart Jacob Kaimenyi failed to resolve the crisis last week. Mr Kambi met with officials of the University Academic Staff Union (Uasu) and Kenya Universities Staff Union (Kusu) on Saturday and yesterday in a bid to find a solution to the strike that started last Monday. The union officials said day that they were yet to be convinced to end the boycott. They have also brushed aside a court order obtained by the VCs stopping the strike. “We are soldiering on. We have not been given any solution yet, so the strike goes on. We have been meeting with the VCs, but they are yet to meet our demands,” Kusu secretary-general Charles Mukhwaya said on the phone. Uasu chairman Sammy Kubasu said they were still open for dialogue despite a solution proving elusive so far. Elsewhere, university managers in Mombasa have organised game tournaments from today to keep idle students busy as their lecturers and other workers continue with their strike. “As managers, we are trying to make sure that lecturers willing to teach, especially part-timers, are left to do so,” Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) vice-chancellor Josephat Mwatelah said on Sunday. Keep the students busy “We are going to organise a tournament for football, basketball and netball to keep the students busy,” he added. Mr Mwatelah said that if the strike takes longer than they anticipate, they will send the students home until the dispute they have with the staff unions is resolved. Uasu TUM chapter leader Joseph Ngare praised Prof Kaimenyi for acknowledging that the problem lay with university managers, and pushing for investigations into the matter. At the same time, Masinde Muliro University has pushed forward examinations scheduled for today due to the ongoing strike. The vice-chancellor, Prof Fred Otieno, said that the registration of students was interrupted. “Students will have at least one week to complete the registration and prepare for the examinations that were pushed to March 24,” he said. The lecturers and support staff started boycotting work last week, demanding payment of Sh3.9 billion, which is part of Sh7.8 billion negotiated in 2010. Reporting from The technical University Of Mombasa,, I am Godfrey Khanili
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 08:57:56 +0000
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