UON Lectures To Withdraw Services To Self-Sponsored Students

By Getrude Matayo

According to a statement from Chapter Secretary George Omondi, University of Nairobi (UoN) lecturers have announced the withdrawal of services to self-sponsored students over debt amounting to 1.3 billion shillings.

Chapter secretary George Omondi on Wednesday states that the academic staff is owed a huge amount of money for services offered in self-sponsored programs.

According to Omondi, UoN lecturers have been offering their services diligently for many years in spite of not being paid. He added that the union has repeatedly written to the varsity management requesting to find the solution to the pending debt but no action has been taken.

“The last such communication was on October 5, 2020, in which the union clearly indicated that management urgently pays academic staff the monies owed to them for services rendered to self-sponsored students before October 13, 2020,” the statement reads

According to a statement that was released, Failure to which affected staff would exercise their constitutional right to withhold services to the said students until they are paid.

Last week, the University of Nairobi (UoN) lectures from the College of Health Sciences threatened to go on strike following a dispute over allowances.

The Union issued a seven-day strike notice to the UoN management a month ago. The action follows a decision by the university management to withdraw clinical allowances arguing that some medical lectures had abandoned their work at the Kenyatta National Hospital for their private clinics.

On Wednesday, the secretary said the staff will only resume their services after the owed amount is paid in full. UASU secretary-general Constantine Wasonga had said that clinical allowances had been withdrawn and only a few members had been paid their dues.

The union is demanding for the immediate and unconditionally reinstatement of the allowances whose payment it claimed was stopped unilaterally by the university in breach of employment and labor laws.

Late last year, the university disbanded its department responsible for handling self-sponsored learners. The decision by the university council has met a cold shoulder as two factions one in support and the other one against the directive emerged.

Undertones indicate the opposition follows the move to strip off the unit power to handle funds from the self-sponsored students

The majority of the academic staff at the College of Health Sciences had not been paid their allowances. The few that had been paid claimed that the amount had been reduced.