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| The Moi University workers protesting |
Over 3,000 employees of Moi University have launched a go-slow, boycotting work in protest over frequent salary delays and other workplace frustrations.
The staff have issued a warning, threatening to escalate the situation into a full-blown strike if the university management fails to address their grievances promptly.
The workers led by union officials from the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) and the Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) have petitioned President William Ruto to intervene.
The officials were led by Richard Okero from UASU and KUSU’s secretary Mary Chepkwemoi.
The workers boycotted duty at the main campus and the College of Health Sciences.
“We have not been paid July salaries,” Chepkwemoi said.
She said the university had failed to remit all salary deductions to pay loans and other financial obligations with bank institutions for the last seven years.
“We know Ruto will be in Eldoret to elevate the town to city status but we are telling him this will be a city of problems with people suffering like us,” Chepkwemoi said.
The officials said the workers were in heavy debt and some of them had died because of financial frustrations.
Okero said one of the financial institutions had sued workers whose assets were now being auctioned because the university had failed to remit deductions for payment of loans.
The workers demanded that VC Kosgey and the university council should resign.
“We are asking Ruto to ensure that we have new management at Moi University failure to which the university will collapse,” Chepkwemoi.
VC Kosgey had not commented on the matter by the time of publishing the story.
He was locked up in a meeting with his aides saying he would comment on the matter after the meeting.
by MATHEWS NDANYI