Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has acknowledged that lecturers and staff in public universities are not adequately remunerated.
He, however, warned that the government is operating under severe fiscal constraints that limit its ability to raise salaries.
Appearing before a parliamentary committee, Mbadi said Kenya’s economic stability has been improving in recent months, noting that macro-economic indicators are looking better than they were one year ago.
Mbadi, however, cautioned that the progress remains fragile.
“It would interest this committee and Kenyans to note that our economic stability is improving. If we don’t maintain the trajectory we have taken in sustaining our economic stability, we will slide again where we were and the effect will be disaster,” he said.
“I agree our lectures and staff teaching in public universities are not adequately remunerated, and they need better salaries and including other public servants. We must be alive to challenges that we are facing.”
The CS revealed that the country came close to defaulting on loan repayments last year, a situation he said would have triggered a national crisis.
“We will not be talking about CBS to implement today; we will be talking about whether we can sustain our workforce in employment,” he said.
Mbadi expressed concern over the rising public wage bill, saying it has grown sharply over the past decade.
He noted that in 2013, only 16 per cent of ordinary revenue was used to pay public salaries. That figure has now risen to over 40 per cent.
“Up to January 2025, we were paying Sh75 billion per month, translating to Sh900 billion per year. Today, it has gone up by Sh5 billion more per month. It is now Sh80 billion, Sh960 billion per year. It is not sustainable. We will end up crowding out capital expenditure,” he added.
While affirming support for better pay for university staff and other public servants, Mbadi said the government must adopt a formula that does not put excessive strain on the economy.
“We care about our public university staff, but we also plead that we agree on a formula that would not put excessive strain on us,” he said.
UASU Secretary General Constantine Wesonga accused the government of repeatedly failing to honour CBAs, saying that accepting phased payments would only trigger more strikes in the future.
“The government is proposing to implement the Sh7.9 billion in three phases — that’s three strikes, and we don’t want to subject our students to further frustration,” Wesonga said.
“They'd better suffer now up to December so we clear all these issues.
Come January, it will be a clean slate they can study up to 2030, and I’ll call another strike in 2030. Let the country know that lecturers have blatantly refused to go back to work if the Sh7.9 billion is not paid.”
The prolonged strike disrupted academic calendars in most universities, raising fears that students could miss their graduations, industrial attachments, or even completion of studies.
This year’s first semester, which began in September, was expected to end in the second week of December ahead of the Christmas break. But with six weeks already lost and no progress in talks, students now face the grim reality of a lost semester — even as universities remain open.
