MMUST Student's organization chairman Emmanuel Makokha addressing rioting students in Kakamega. [PHOTO|John Kabaka|West Fm]
Kakamega County: Masinde Muliro Univeristy students in Kakamega main campus have continued to defy the administrations directive to close the institution indefinitely following the ongoing nationwide lecturer’s strike.
The students have protesting against the decision forcing a traffic snarl up along the Kakamega – Webuye road.
The students have now vowed not to leave the university.
“The university administration cannot jus wake one morning and decide to close the institution. We are not leaving the institution,” said Anekaya Jeremiah, the Student’s Organization Secretary, MUSO.
Infuriated students led by officials of the university student’s body (Mmuso) Emanuel Makokha (Chairman) and Jeremiah Anekeya (Secretary) mobilized students to the academic square where they denounced the decision to close the campus and vowed to stay put.
A notice released by the senate and signed by the university's head of Academic Affairs Prof. Asenath Sigot declared the university will close Thursday afternoon in view of the debilitating strike by lecturers and unusable university non-teaching staff members.
The strike called jointly by the University Academic Staff Union ((UASU) and the University Non Teaching Staff Union (UNTESU) to push the universities to honour the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) has paralysed learning at all public universities across the country but Maseno university.
The decision by MMUST comes days after negotiations between the ministry of higher education and the unions fell through. It also comes at a time the student’s body was preparing to serve the university with a seven day notice resolve the strike or they would join the lecturers.
Further to earlier communication dated September 11th on the prevailing situation in the university, it has been noted that the university is not running optimally.
In view of the above, the internal memo addressed to all students read, it has been decided that all students proceed to a recess with effect from Thursday noon. The directive gave the students two hours to pack up their belonging and vacate the university hostels before 2.00 pm.
MMUST has been bedevilled by myriad problems since the beginning of the new semester with the university unilaterally deferring the commencement date for learning for all second year students for six months to give room for accommodation to the reporting first year students, a decision contested by the student’s body.
The students held peaceful demonstration as they headed to the Masinde Muliro Gardens to be addressed by their officials.
