Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba has dismissed a viral letter claiming that the government had allowed the ongoing lecturers’ strike to continue until January 2026 and directed university students to vacate campuses.
In a statement on Tuesday evening, Ogamba clarified that the document circulating online was fake.
“The letter currently circulating and purporting to be from me is fake. I urge the public to treat it with the contempt it deserves,” he said.
Learning in public universities has been paralyzed since mid-September following an industrial action by lecturers and staff. The strike has disrupted academic programs nationwide, leaving thousands of students stranded, including first-years who had just enrolled.
Tension escalated this week after some students threatened to join their lecturers in demonstrations to push the government to resolve the stalemate.
Despite directives from the Education Ministry and a court order suspending the strike, the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) and the Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) have insisted that the strike will continue.
On September 18, the Employment and Labour Relations Court, through Justice Jacob Gakeri, ordered both parties back to the negotiating table. However, lecturers argue that the government has failed to honor past agreements.
They accuse the state of only partially meeting their demands by releasing Ksh2.5 billion, while Ksh7.9 billion from previous collective bargaining agreements remains unsettled. The unions maintain that this partial payment is inadequate and cannot justify calling off the strike.
The deadlock has placed the future of thousands of learners in uncertainty, with no clear timeline for when normal learning will resume.
By Kenyans