Breakthrough: Lecturers To Return To Class On Monday As Union Reaches Ksh20B Deal

The Kenyan government and university unions have reached a verbal Ksh20 billion agreement to end a four-week nationwide strike that has shut down operations across 35 public universities.

Speaking to the press on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, University Academic Staff Union (UASU) Secretary-General Constantine Wesonga announced that the formal agreement will be signed on Friday, October 30, with lectures resuming on Monday, November 2.

“We have a deal on the financials. Tomorrow our technical team is going to sit down to put what we have agreed on on pen and paper,” Wesonga stated. “To comrades, start walking towards your universities. I want to assure you that from Monday, you shall have your lessons.”

The breakthrough follows weeks of stalled negotiations involving union officials, university heads, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba, National Treasury CS John Mbadi, and Internal Security PS Raymond Omollo.

The industrial action, initiated on October 2 by UASU, the Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU), and KUDHEIHA, stemmed from demands regarding the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs). Talks previously hit a wall after unions repeatedly rejected government counter-offers capped at Ksh12 billion—and an updated offer of Ksh11.96 billion on October 26—citing them as insufficient and equating to only a 3% basic salary increase.

On Thursday, the government raised its offer to Ksh20 billion, meeting the unions’ demands.

“Today we have agreed on a figure we have negotiated with the government, not a figure imposed on the unions,” Wesonga emphasized.

The signing on Friday will finalize individual payout allocations across union members, bringing relief to thousands of students whose protests over the disruption included demonstrations that briefly paralyzed Nairobi’s Waiyaki Way earlier in the week.