Govt proposes 3-year plan to settle Ksh7.76B debt owed to university lecturers
By Ascah Mwango, November 4, 2025The government has moved to settle the longstanding debt owed to university lecturers, proposing a phased-disbursement plan for an outstanding Ksh7.76 billion.
The amount arises from the implementation of the 2017-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between academic and non-academic staff in public universities.
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In a presentation to the National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Education on Tuesday, November 4, 2025, the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning, John Mbadi, revealed that the government has already provided Ksh8.6 billion toward the CBA: Ksh6.6 billion in the 2019/20 financial year and Ksh2.0 billion in 2021/22.
He noted that the total cost the including pension liabilities as determined by the Employment and Labour Relations Court and upheld by the Court of Appeal of Kenya on 28 March 2025, stands at Ksh16.57 billion.
The debt of Ksh7.76 billion represents the gap between what has been paid and the full cost of the agreement. The State Department for Higher Education has proposed that the remaining amount be spread over three years, and the National Treasury has indicated concurrence with that plan.
“To settle the outstanding KSh 7.76 billion, the State Department for Higher Education has proposed a phased disbursement plan over three years, to which the National Treasury has concurred,” Mbadi stated.
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The minister reaffirmed the government’s commitment to honouring lawful obligations, promoting industrial harmony in the education sector and maintaining fiscal discipline.
2017-2021 CBA
In October 2019, the Inter‑Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) and the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) signed the 2017-2021 CBA, which was later registered with the Employment and Labour Relations Court. The unions contend that the full cost of the agreement, including pension liabilities, is Ksh16.57 billion.
By 2020, Parliament approved a supplementary budget which allowed Ksh6.6 billion to be released in July 2020 toward the arrears of basic salary increments. A further Ksh2.0 billion was allocated in the 2021/22 budget. Even so, the union side says the arrears remain unpaid in full.
An audit published in October 2025 pointed to a shortfall of some Ksh7.7 billion in the funding required to meet the CBA obligations.
The 2025 strike by lecturers across Kenya’s public universities began in earnest over these unpaid arrears. The Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) and the UASU jointly declared that they would not resume lecturing duties until the full Ksh7.9 billion was paid and a new 2025-2029 CBA was opened for negotiation. They dismissed government offers as inadequate and rejected payroll audits as mere public relations exercises.
Conversely, the government, through the Ministry of Education, has maintained that the outstanding amount is far lower at around Ksh624 million, claiming that much of the arrears had been covered via normal salary increments rather than the special CBA funds.