Nairobi county senator Edwin Sifuna has condemned the forcible arrests made against the striking university lecturers on Monday, September 23, 2024.
Chaos erupted in Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) Monday afternoon after the police lobbed teargas canisters at a section of members of the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) and Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU), and arrested them forcibly.
The varsity dons were confronted by the police as they were headed to parliament.
Sifuna in a statement shared via his official X account on Monday, September 23, 2024, equated the incident to the force applied by the police in the neighbouring countries of Uganda and Tanzania.
Sifuna on police brutality
According to Sifuna, Kenya has come to the same level as the two neighbouring countries in terms of democracy.
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary General further stated that it was quite a shame to witness the incident pitting the police and the lecturers.
“Kenya is now in the same group as Tanzania and Uganda in as far as democracy goes. It’s quite a shame to witness,” Sifuna stated.
Police confront lecturers
The lecturers faced off with the police while marching to parliament to present their petitions on the delay in finalizing an agreed-upon Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The university dons were also planning to march to the Treasury and Ministry of Education offices to present their petition.
Police arrested some of the members shortly after teargassing them near Jogoo House as they marched to present their petitions.
Lecturers’ strike
The nationwide lecturers’ strike kicked off on Wednesday, September 18, 2024. The university dons defied an order from the Employment and Labour Relations Court and continued with their strike which has now entered the sixth day.
The Wednesday evening court order temporarily restrained the University Academic Staff Union (UASU) and the Kenya Universities’ Staff Union (KUSU) from calling, instigating, or inciting others to participate in any strike or other forms of industrial action.
However, the University of Nairobi, UASU and KUSU leadership insisted that they would continue the strike, arguing that the court order only prohibits them from issuing another strike notice after September 18, 2024.
