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{
    "id": 419536,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/419536/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 230,
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    "content": "facilities for students. It was also used to pay various debts by the university, gratuity and pension. This did not happen unilaterally across all the universities. For two universities, that is, Narok and Maasai Universities the money was paid to them as house allowances and salary increment. There is also a dispute, in cases where the money was paid out, whether it was implemented as per the agreed formula. For the salary increment, what was agreed upon was 23 per cent, but what was given was 17.5 per cent. For the house allowance, instead of the 14.5 per cent, what was given was 7.5 per cent. Whatever was promised in advance is what was not given out. So, this has locked the unions in a dispute, especially the two unions, the University Academic Staff Union and the Kenya University Staff Union (KUSU). It has also locked the Government in terms of them coming out clearly to say what amounts were disbursed, when they were disbursed and whether the university actually did what was expected of them to have done. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there are negotiations that have been taking place, but they have borne no fruit. It looks like a to and fro movement between the Government, the university and the unions. Due to that stalemate the unions gave a notice for a strike. So, for the last six days, there has been a strike. It is unfortunate that it has gotten to a point where the university management, the unions and the Government are engaged in a process that has not been concluded appropriately and yet these are three different bodies which can sit together, discuss and avert this particular strike. At the end of the day, the sufferers are the students. This is a different sort of strike than what the public universities have experienced in the past. Before, it would be a dispute between the university and the Government, but this one is where the Government has already allocated the money to the universities and probably, the disbursement did not happen as it was supposed to be. Therefore, the dispute is between what has actually been given to the universities and the fact that it has not been appropriately used. There is need for clarification on the amounts that were given. There are contradictions coming through; that the universities are saying that they have Kshs2.2 billion, but they cannot account for Kshs1.8 billion. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, that is not something difficult because all these players can be put together so that this stalemate is ended. Our concern is that as this strike goes on, students are missing out on their lectures. That means a lot for a university calendar because each and every week is taken into account in terms of the learning that is meant to take place. Some of these students stay in hostels. They have access to kitchens where they buy food at reasonable prices. With the strike going on, the kitchens are closed. They are not able to buy and access food at a cheaper rate. Some of the students have been forced to travel back to their homes. The strike is also opening up a lot of space for a lot of vices. In fact, some of the students are now considering what they are going to do. Are they just going to do sports during the day rather than engage in lectures? This is also putting Kenya in a very tricky situation because the nature of strikes and even in a culture where strike often happen, these students are expected to be managers. It becomes very difficult when they themselves are exposed to strikes from their own mentors. Yet without having this kind of aggression put in place, sometimes it The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}