Police arrest, fire tear gas at lecturers striking in Nairobi CBD
The strike follows the government's failure to honour its commitments under the CBA, which was signed with lecturers.
Several members of the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) and the Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) were arrested on Monday as they attempted to deliver petitions to the Parliament, Treasury, and Ministry of Education.
The lecturers, who are members of the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) and the Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU), had taken to the streets, accusing the government of failing to honour the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
More To Read
- KNEC announces July, August deadlines for 2025 CBC assessments
- Teachers demand 60% pay rise, improved working conditions in new CBA
- Teachers demand new allowances in upcoming CBA talks
- Lecturers to resume strike in seven days if salary hike is delayed
- Teachers demand up to 900% increase in allowances for KCSE exam duties
- Teachers ordered back to class as KUPPET calls off strike
Police responded by firing teargas, scattering the crowd, and igniting tension in the city centre, while at the same time derailing the lecturers from marching to Parliament.
The teargas forced the university lecturers to scatter for safety as smoke filled the air. Business activities in the city were affected, with pedestrians and traders also caught in the chaos.
Many were seen running for cover, shielding their faces from the effects of the teargas.
Videos and photos seen by The Eastleigh Voice showed people fleeing the area, questioning the police's heavy-handed response against the unarmed lecturers.
“What is wrong with these people [the police]?” A protester could be heard yelling amid the confusion.
In a video circulating online, police officers were seen forcefully arresting a female staff member near the Ministry of Education offices, shoving her into a police vehicle.
“Leave me alone; what have I done to be arrested?" The unidentified woman cried out as police dragged her away.
The strike comes a few days after the Employment and Labour Relations Court, on September 18, 2024, ordered the lecturers to end the strike and return to work. \
The court cited disruptions in learning at public universities and directed both sides to resume negotiations while the matter is addressed in court.
Justice Jacob Gakeri gave the unions and the Ministry of Education seven days to respond to the case, with the next hearing set for October 2, 2024.
Top Stories Today
- Sugar board warns of lease revocations for non-compliant investors
- City Hall seizes Nairobi CBD buildings in crackdown on land rate arrears
- MoH: UHC staff to be transferred to counties by July 1
- Kagame urges Africa to ditch aid dependence after US cuts
- Garissa residents want colonial-era boundary fuelling disputes scrapped
- Tanzania arrests Chadema official travelling to Brussels conference
- Deputy Governors seek constitutional changes to have clear mandates
- Funding shortfall leaves Somali women, children facing death
- City Hall to freeze accounts, auction properties over Sh50bn arrears
- Sh40.7bn budget shortfall threatens military recruitment, operations
- Kenya’s security at risk as regional instability grows, warns NIS boss
- Supreme Court Judge Ouko warns of eroding public trust due to case delays
- Palestine lifts ban on Al Jazeera's operations in Palestinian territories
- Kenya aims to quadruple tea exports to China by 2030
- KNEC announces July, August deadlines for 2025 CBC assessments
- Lake Basin Board official Ebel Ochieng detained for 23 days in probe into MP Were's murder
- University of Nairobi Council insists Ndemo’s appointment as VC legal
- Four bandits killed, six AK-47s recovered in security raid in Meru
- Wetang’ula flags Finance Bill 2025 as urgent, directs committee to fast-track review
- UDA to conduct repeat grassroots elections in Mombasa, Tana River on May 17
