CS Mbadi Finally Acknowledges Lecturers’ Compensation Inadequacy
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has admitted that lecturers and workers at public universities are not fairly compensated.
He did, however, caution that the government is operating under severe fiscal restrictions that limit its capacity to increase pay.
Mbadi told a parliamentary committee that Kenya’s economic stability has improved in recent months, with macroeconomic indicators looking better than a year ago.
Mbadi, however, warned that development is still fragile.
“It would interest this committee and Kenyans to note that our economic stability is improving,” he said.
“If we don’t maintain the trajectory we have taken in sustaining our economic stability, we will slide again to where we were and the effect will be disaster.”
The CS added: “I agree our lectures and staff teaching in public universities are not adequately remunerated, and they need better salaries and including other public servants. We must be alive to the challenges that we are facing.”
The CS stated that the country came close to defaulting on loan repayments last year, which he warned would have resulted in a national calamity.
“We will not be talking about CBS to implement today; we will be talking about whether we can sustain our workforce in employment,” he said.
Mbadi voiced alarm about the rising public salary cost, which has increased significantly over the last decade.
He stated that in 2013, only 16% of regular revenue was used to pay public salaries. That proportion has now increased to nearly 40%.
“Up to January 2025, we were paying Sh75 billion per month, translating to Sh900 billion per year,” he added.
“Today, it has gone up by Sh5 billion more per month. It is now Sh80 billion, Sh960 billion per year. It is not sustainable. We will end up crowding out capital expenditure.”
While expressing support for higher pay for university faculty and other public employees, Mbadi stated that the government must devise a formula that does not impose an undue burden on the economy.
“We care about our public university staff, but we also plead that we agree on a formula that would not put excessive strain on us,” he said.
UASU Secretary General Constantine Wesonga accused the government of repeatedly failing to respect CBAs, claiming that accepting phased payments would only lead to further strikes in the future.
This is despite the fact that the lecturers’ strike has been going on for over 5 weeks.
“The government is proposing to implement the Sh7.9 billion in three phases — that’s three strikes, and we don’t want to subject our students to further frustration,” Wesonga said.
“They’d better suffer now up to December so we clear all these issues.
“Come January, it will be a clean slate they can study up to 2030, and I’ll call another strike in 2030. Let the country know that lecturers have blatantly refused to go back to work if the Sh7.9 billion is not paid.”
CS Mbadi Finally Acknowledges Lecturers’ Compensation Inadequacy
