Kenya’s public university lecturers have resumed a nationwide strike over low pay, nearly three months after ending a similar protest. Strikes by public workers in the East African country have become more frequent in recent years, often fuelled by grievances over pay. The lecturers, who began the strike on Thursday, said in a statement they were also demanding services available to other public servants like car loans and higher quality medical insurance.
“The union has exhausted all the possible options that were available to prevent the industrial action,” the Universities’ Academic Staff Union said in the statement.
A strike over the same grievances ended in December after the lecturers said they had reached an agreement with the government for a rise in salaries.
Some public workers accuse the government of President Uhuru Kenyatta of neglecting them and failing to curb widespread corruption that they say swallows money that could be used to raise their pay.
In November 2017, lecturers in public universities launched a strike to protest against what they call the government’s continued failure to implement a March deal to boost salaries and housing allowances.
The strike piled pressure on the government after a strike by nurses in public hospitals over the past few months has paralysed health care services countrywide.
