UASU SG Constantine Wasonga. Photo: Courtesy.
The Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) Secretary General Constantine Wasonga has demanded that National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi must withdraw his statement that the government cannot fund free education.
Speaking in Nairobi on Thursday, threatened to call a strike in September, if the government fails to take in their demands, and if acclaim of over KSh 2.3 billion held by the government is not released.
He accused the government for deliberately frustrating the education sector, despite having enough money to fund the sector, by turning educational staffs into casuals, through a hint by Mbadi to lay off staffs and close satellite campus to rescue underfunded universities.
According to Wasonga, the misuse by government and the ongoing countrywide empowerment could fund the whole education sector. He dismissed claims that the government does not have money.
“How can you imagine that you can retrench or lay off learned people? You think these are gunias that you can lay off anytime you feel like. These are people who have chewed books, you cannot lay them off what country is this? Those are the things you are discussing in cabinet, yo are thinking of how to lay off professors Withdraw that statement, there is money in Kenya. They are doing empowerment. They have money, if you see the wastage of this government in a day, it can can fund the whole education sector,” he said.
Echoing the sentiments of Wasonga, UASU National Chairperson Grace Nyongesa added that they will not allow any plans by the government to retrench university academic staffs, but instead they should employ more lectures and increase their salaries.
“As it is, we do not have enough members of academic staff across all universities. We are calling for the government to employ more lecturers in the universities. Therefore the dream of retrenching any member of the academic staff from universities, we will resist in the strongest terms possible. The government should be taking up the salaries of academic staffs in public universities, just as it happens in schools primary and secondary,” she said.
Appearing before National Assembly Committee on Education, Mbadi said that the increasing number of students in universities yearly has made it difficult to fund higher education, and that the government will proceed with the new funding model, despite locking out thousands of needy students.
About the Author
