By Mutuvi Janet
Justice David Nderitu has sentenced Egerton University Vice Chancellor (VC) Isaac Kibwage and other eight council members to a jail term of 30 days or in preference pay a fine of Ksh 100,000 after they were found guilty of Contempt of Court.
The court had earlier ordered the VC to pay the varsity lecturers their full salaries but he disobeyed the instruction.
It is alleged that the nine officials were accountable for imposing a 40 per cent pay cut to Egerton University Academic Staff Union (UASU) members in 2020 during the Covid-19 Pandemic and since then, the lecturers have never been paid their full salaries.
This forced the UASU members to sue them for not reverting to full pay more so after the Covid-19 pandemic slowed down.
Speaking to the press, Justice Nderitu said that although the institution says it has been facing financial problems, the management did not show any effort to settle the issue even after the Court order.
“The management hasn’t even tried to engage the lecturers to try to find a solution to the problem. As per now, no evidence has been brought into my office to indicate the management has tried to figure out how to solve the situation,” he added.
He noted that the nine officials claimed that Covid-19 had hindered operations leading to the varsity’s bankruptcy but they did not forward evidence to back the claims.
“The pay cut was a breach of the dons’ rights and a violation of fair labour practices. It’s up to the management to defend themselves and come up with clear evidence over the saga or else things could get worse,” he concluded.
