Thousands of university workers across the country are expected to receive delayed salary arrears by the end of May after President William Ruto approved a Sh3.9 billion allocation in the supplementary budget.
The disbursement is part of efforts to settle long-standing payments under the 2017/2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) affecting both lecturers and non-teaching staff.
“A total of Sh3.9 billion has been set aside to clear university salary arrears dating back to the 2017/2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement,” reads the document, with the funds set to clear 50 per cent of the outstanding salary arrears.
President Ruto approved the Supplementary Appropriation Bill weeks ago, unlocking additional funding to address salary gaps, medical cover and long-standing arrears in the education sector. The new law pushed the 2025/2026 budget upwards by Sh393 billion to Sh4.7 trillion.
Beyond university arrears, the supplementary budget also set aside Sh4.1 billion for the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), raising its total allocation to Sh45.6 billion.
Key higher education institutions, including Moi University and the University Funding Board, received a combined Sh6 billion, while the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) was allocated an additional Sh24.2 billion to cater for salary shortfalls and medical insurance obligations.
In a notice circulated to staff in public universities, Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers Secretary-General Albert Njeru urged swift implementation of the agreement.
“Following the government allocation of Sh 3.9 billion through the supplementary budget on April 7, 2026, for the payment of salary arrears as per the 2017/2021 CBA, I ask your intervention to ensure all public universities implement the parties’ agreement by way of paying the workers across all public universities on or before May 31, 2026,” reads part of the notice.
The government and university staff unions, including the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu), Kenya Universities Staff Union (Kusu), and the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions and Hospital Workers (Kudheiha), had agreed on a two-phase payment structure covering Sh7.9 billion in outstanding arrears from the 2017/2021 CBA.
The arrangement was part of a return-to-work formula that ended a 49-day nationwide university lecturers’ strike that disrupted learning between September and November last year.
The unions signed the agreement with the Inter-Public Universities Councils’ Consultative Forum, which outlined how the arrears would be settled.
Under the deal, the first tranche of Sh3.8 billion was paid in December last year, while the remaining Sh3.9 billion is now scheduled for release by the end of the current financial cycle.
Funds for the initial phase were disbursed to universities in December 2025, and the final payment is expected to be completed by the end of this month.
The unions had earlier demanded the release of Sh2.73 billion under phase two of the 2021/2025 CBA, the full Sh7.9 billion outstanding from the 2017–2021 CBA, and the initiation of negotiations and registration of the 2025/2029 CBA.
The agreement ultimately paved the way for talks on the new CBA cycle.
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