The Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu-K) has turned down an invitation to join a tripartite committee convened to discuss plans to declare all employees of recently privatised sugar factories redundant.
Responding to a letter from the Labour Commissioner, Cotu Secretary-General Francis Atwoli questioned why a ministry mandated to create jobs would convene a meeting to lay off staff.
“Cotu (K), therefore, respectfully declines to participate in the proposed meeting on redundancy, and instead calls for urgent consultations on strategies to expand employment opportunities in line with the ministry’s founding mission,” said Atwoli in a letter to Labour Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua dated October 3, 2025.
Cotu Secretary-General Francis Atwoli. The umbrella trade union has turned down an invitation to join a committee convened to discuss plans to declare redundant all employees of recently privatised sugar factories.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
The four state-owned millers recently leased to private investors have received approval to lay off all staff as their factories and land are transferred to new management.
Kipronoh Ronoh, Principal Secretary in the State Department for Agriculture, directed managing directors of the factories to issue redundancy notices to all workers—a move expected to affect over 5,000 employees. Those wishing to continue under the new investors will be required to reapply. He emphasised that the notices must be in writing, clearly stating the reasons for termination and outlining the employees’ entitlements, with copies sent to the county labour officer.
To ensure the exercise is smooth, the Labour ministry invited Cotu, the umbrella union for workers, to nominate at least one officer to a committee comprising government, employers’ and employees’ representatives.
The team is tasked with reviewing and providing policy and legal oversight over the proposed redundancies in affected public sugar factories.
It will also facilitate consultations among stakeholders to ensure compliance with the relevant law, fair labour practices and collective bargaining agreements, and provide technical guidance on dispute prevention, lawful termination and international obligations such as ILO Convention No. 158.
“The purpose of the letter is to request that you nominate at least one officer to the tripartite committee and communicate the same to the Labour Commissioner… on or before 6th October 2025,” wrote L.K. Bii, for the Labour Commissioner.
A tractor transports sugarcane. Many sugar factories have been privatised.
However, Mr Atwoli rejected the invitation, arguing that Cotu would not participate in a meeting chaired by the Ministry of Labour to discuss how to declare workers redundant.
“As Cotu (K), we shall only take part in a meeting to discuss how to bake a bigger cake in order to create more employment opportunities,” he said.
“It is deeply concerning that the ministry, whose central mandate is employment creation, would convene a meeting to discuss redundancy at a time when the unemployment crisis in our country is acute,” he added, noting that opportunities for increased job creation are abundant in the agricultural sector, including the sugar sub-sector.
