Moi University is once again on the verge of an academic shutdown as lecturers prepare for a full-scale strike over delayed salaries and broken promises. The Universities’ Academic Staff Union (UASU) has issued a fresh seven-day strike notice, effective August 20, 2025, demanding immediate payment of arrears and full implementation of past agreements.
In a press release dated August 12 and addressed to University Council Chairman Prof. Noah Midamba, UASU National Secretary General Constantine Wasonga also referred to as Constatine Opiyo in some reports accused the university of failing to pay salaries for June and July 2025 in accordance with the negotiated 2021–2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The union is also demanding that clauses on staff review, promotions, and retirement age in the CBA be fully implemented.
Moi University lecturers strike over delayed pay
A major sticking point is the university’s alleged failure to implement the Return-To-Work Formula signed on November 30, 2024, which was meant to resolve earlier disputes. “All Union members at Moi University shall withdraw their labour until the Return-To-Work Formula is implemented,” Opiyo warned.
The industrial action comes at a sensitive time, with first-year students set to report soon. UASU says the strike will proceed unless the university addresses its demands in full, warning that the institution is headed for what they call “learning paralysis.”
Moi University’s troubles are far from new. Earlier in 2025, lecturers issued strike notices in both February and March over delayed salary payments, at one point threatening to boycott examinations unless their dues were cleared. The university, under acting Vice-Chancellor Dr. Kiplagat Koptut, has admitted facing severe financial constraints, including KSh 500 million in unpaid staff salaries and an KSh 8.8 billion debt crisis. In a cost-cutting move earlier this year, management terminated 300 employees, citing high operational costs.
In January, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba dissolved the old university council for “poor management” and inaugurated a new one to restore stability. “We expect this new team to restore the lost glory of the institution and safeguard learning,” Ogamba said at the time.
The Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) Moi University chapter has thrown its weight behind UASU’s demands. Chapter secretary Mary Chepkwemoi noted that some staff are still owed arrears dating back to February and called for urgent intervention from the university council, management, and the Ministry of Education.
If no agreement is reached by the August 20 deadline, Moi University could face yet another paralyzing disruption -further eroding confidence in one of Kenya’s premier public universities.
