Open letter: Diaspora scholar raises alarm over unpaid lecturers and mental health concerns

As a Kenyan in the diaspora, an academic and a mental health advocate, I stand in solidarity with the lecturers who have been on strike for three weeks.

Beyond the disruption to education, I worry about the mental health toll of delayed salaries, financial uncertainty and the pressure of providing for families without knowing when the next pay cheque will come. Prolonged financial stress can deepen anxiety and other mental health struggles. We must not ignore the human cost of failing to pay those who educate our nation.

I speak as someone who understands this struggle. Since 2018, I have taught at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), yet I have never been paid for my teaching. Whenever I inquire, I am told that payments remain backlogged, particularly for part-time lecturers.

I live and work in America, and I do not depend on this income to survive. But what about lecturers who depend on every pay cheque to feed their families, pay rent and educate their children?

In America, workers can pursue legal remedies when employers fail to pay wages they owe. Why should Kenyan lecturers have to plead, write emergency letters and navigate endless bureaucracy to receive payment for work already done?

It is heartbreaking to imagine lecturers retiring or even passing away without receiving their rightful earnings. No one should have to beg for money they have already earned.

The current strike goes beyond salaries. Lecturers are demanding action on the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement, funding commitments and outstanding obligations. Agreements must mean something. Work must be compensated.

Dear Government of Kenya, where are your national priorities?

You cannot talk about affordable housing while neglecting the people who help build the nation. You cannot promise economic transformation while undermining the institutions that develop our human capital.

Education, healthcare and the welfare of our children must not be competing priorities. Please honour your commitments, release the necessary funds and resolve this crisis.

Students have paid their fees. They deserve to learn. Lecturers deserve to be paid. They deserve dignity.

To my fellow lecturers and university staff: I see you, comrades. I hear you. I stand with you. Your labour matters, and your families matter.