Kibabii University Suspends Semester Indefinitely After Student Death

Kibabii University in Bungoma has suspended teaching and learning for the first semester of the 2026/27 academic year and ordered all students to leave the campus, following violent protests triggered by the death of a third-year student.

The University Senate made the decision in a special meeting on Tuesday October 6, 2026, citing the unrest that erupted after an attack on a group of students on Monday night, in which one third-year student was pronounced dead at a Bungoma hospital and three others were injured.

In a memo issued by Registrar of Academic Affairs Jacklyne Okello Alari, students were told to vacate the university premises and hostels by 3 pm on Tuesday, and residents in the surrounding neighbourhood were advised to find alternative accommodation until teaching resumes.

Protesters blocked roads around the campus and clashed with police, who deployed tear-gas as they attempted to contain the crowd; at one point students tried to retrieve the deceased colleague’s body from the hospital, further escalating tensions.

The closure occurs amid a nationwide lecturers’ strike that began on Friday October 2, 2026, organised by the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) after negotiations on the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement failed, with demands covering the agreement’s registration, salary funding from the Exchequer and other human-resource matters.

Lecturers at Kibabii University are among those participating in the industrial action, which has disrupted academic activities across public universities in Kenya.