Moi University Announces Reopening Date Following Month-Long Closure

Moi University Main Campus

Moi University is scheduled to reopen on Thursday, November 7 and allow students to report back on Friday, November 8, after a month-long shutdown. 

In a statement by the Vice-Chancellor Prof. Isaac S. Kosgey on Sunday, November 3, the university announced a detailed schedule of meetings and negotiations that would enable the transition back to normalcy. 

The meetings, which are consultative sessions with University Staff Unions, namely UASU and KUSU, started on Saturday last week and will end on Wednesday, November 6.

Prof. Kosgey further said that the meetings also seek to address all outstanding issues with the union representatives and university governing organs. 

The negotiation will then be followed by the signing of a Return to Work Formula, which will finally close the strike and pave the way for the resumption of work in the institution.

Moi University main gate

On October 3, more than 4,000 workers in the institution downed their tools due to delayed salary and Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) issues. 

The strike had paralyzed activities at the institution, with lectures coming to a halt and students being barred from university premises.

Tensions mounted when students demonstrated against the closure which led to confrontations with riot police leaving some students injured.

The union leaders and students called on the government to intervene, seeking the assistance of President William Ruto in handling what they termed a "crisis" that put at risk the survival of the institution. 

While the UASU and KUSU leaders had initially suspended the strike, hundreds of staff members held out, arguing that they would only go back to work when their grievances had been fully addressed.