More than 300 sacked Kisii University staff on Wednesday morning stormed the Kisii University demanding for their pay.
Led by Kisii University Staff Union (KUSU) Secretary-General Moses Nyandusi, they vowed to stage a protest to the Vice Chancellor’s office daily until their pleas are heard.
Police were forced to teargas the protesting staff a move that has affected learning at the Institution.
According to Nyandusi, University management has been ignoring court orders. Initially, Prof Akama had told the media that the move to render some staff redundant was as a result of a directive from the government and the university council.
The sacked staff include; 204 under the Kisii University Staff Union and at least 100 others under the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Education Institutions and Hospital Workers.
The letters to sack the staff were signed by Rose Ogata, the Acting Registrar Administration, Human Resource and Central Service.
In the redundancy letters, those affected were given one month to clear and hand over to their supervisors. No financial payout was indicated.
Yesterday, Vice-Chancellor John Akama blamed the crisis on the Covid-19 pandemic.
The university had sacked more than 200 staff earlier this year before the management announced a 40 per cent pay cut in May.
By 2018, staff numbers at the university had increased to 1,138, with academic staff accounting for 19 per cent of the workforce.
In 2008, the university had 158 staff spread across faculties, departments, sections and satellite campuses. Out of this, only 10 were full-time. The other 148 comprised of administrative and support staff.
By Frank Akunga
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