JKUAT Strike: University closed indefinitely after students’ unrest

Running battles characterized Saturday morning at the Jommo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) as students went on the rampage and disrupted learning and business in Juja town.

For the better part of Saturday morning and well in to the afternoon, what started on Friday night spilled over with the protesters demanding that the new fee policy be retracted by the University administration. The students were protesting the new fee policy that put the deadline for completing fee payments to the eighth week of the semester from the previous 12th week deadline

The new fee policy also outlined that fee defaulters would face an academic leave, a directive that the students would hear nothing of, until they took to the streets Friday night just as the eighth week clocked in.

The unrest forced the University senate in to a crisis meeting on Saturday morning and declared the closure of the university indefinitely. In a statement to media houses, the vice chancellor Prof. Mabel Imbuga said the university was working to restore order and tranquility. The students were then given one hour to vacate the university premises

The outgoing chairperson of the students’ union Felix Kipkalya attributed the strike to poor student consultation in the review of the fee policy.

The incident according to Juja residents has dented the image of JKUAT students considering this is the first unrest in the institution since 2008