University lecturers went back to class on Monday, but the Sh20 billion agreement that ended their four-week strike leaves several of their key demands unsettled and does not answer the bigger question of how public universities will pay their staff in future.

The deal, signed on Friday between the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) and the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum, is a fraction of the Sh98 billion the unions sought when they downed tools on October 2.

What the unions asked for

According to The Star, the unions had demanded:

  • Basic salary increases of between 36 and 68 per cent.
  • House allowances of up to 58 per cent and transport allowances of up to Sh60,000.
  • Annual leave allowances of Sh50,000 to Sh70,000 and book allowances of Sh65,000 to Sh90,000.
  • A professional allowance of Sh80,000.

What they got is a 3.5 per cent basic salary rise each year for four years, backdated to July 2025, improved commuter, leave and other allowances, and arrears payable in instalments. The Government had earlier offered Sh9.76 billion, then about Sh11.96 billion, before settling at Sh20 billion.

"Today we have agreed on a figure we have negotiated with the government, not a figure imposed on the union," UASU Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga said, while conceding the deal "does not resolve all the outstanding issues".

Still on the table

Wasonga did not say whether the package would address lecturers' medical cover, The Star reported. The status of Sh7.9 billion in arrears from the expired 2021-2025 agreement is also unclear: The Star reported the unions have asked the National Assembly's Education Committee to intervene, while the Daily Nation reported that the State had undertaken to clear the arrears.

The money itself will flow slowly, in tranches of Sh6.7 billion, Sh6.7 billion and Sh6.6 billion spread across the 2026/27, 2027/28 and 2028/29 financial years, leaving room for fresh disputes if releases are delayed.

The bigger crisis

In an analysis published on Monday, the Daily Nation argued that the pay deal does not fix the underlying crisis in public universities, which are carrying debts and pending bills of more than Sh100 billion, including unremitted taxes and pension contributions.

UASU says that crisis is tied to the funding model. In its submissions on the Tertiary Education, Placement and Funding Bill, 2026, the union wants a clear legal line between money for students and money for running universities, arguing that lecturers are public officers whose pay should come from the Exchequer rather than from student fees and loans.

How MPs handle that demand when they amend the Bill is likely to decide whether Monday's return to class holds, or whether campuses face another round of strikes when the next agreement falls due.

Photos: The Star / Ezekiel Aming'a (lecturers' petition at the National Treasury); Kenyans.co.ke (UASU and Education ministry officials). Thumbnail design: HAMASTA MEDIA.