Kenya: Lecturers demand up to 152 percent basic salary increment

Lecturers in Kenya have demanded up to 152 percent basic salary increment in their new 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement proposal set for negotiations before the end of the year, according to a news report by Nation.

The lecturers, through the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU), want universities to increase their salaries to cushion them from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to ensure that lecturers above 60 years and those with pre-existing conditions can be protected from the virus.

The lecturers want the highest paid teaching staff to earn Sh494, 415 (amounting to a 75 percent raise) while the lowest-paid staff to earn Sh145,702 (152 percent raise) by the end of June 30, 2025.

In the 2017-2021 CBA, which entered the final phase of implementation in July this year, the lowest-paid academic staff (graduate assistants and research assistants) earn Sh57,729 while the highest-paid academic staff is professors, who earn Sh283,087.

The union is also demanding annual increments at an average rate of seven percent starting from July 2021.

"Annual increments shall be awarded across the board for the period starting July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2025, at an average rate of seven percent of basic salary, subject to respective salary grade ceiling," reads the proposal signed by UASU Secretary-General, Dr. Constantine Wasonga, and National Chairman, Samuel Muga K’Olale.