The political and administrative undercurrents in the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) came to the fore during a tension-packed meeting of the top decision-making organ – the National Governing Council (NGC) on Friday, September 20.
A total of 70 out of the 73 NGC members poured their bottled-up frustrations and disappointments over the manner in which the National Executive Board (NEB) members called off the teachers’ strike on September 2, 2024.
The bare-knuckles approach by the unionists from the 47 branches countrywide and more than frank admission by NEB members that there were deep-rooted differences which had been fueled by the suspension of the strike, told of a union leadership at the crossroads.
Mr Akello Misori, the union’s Secretary General, national chairman Omboko Milemba, Treasurer Mwethi Njenga and assistant Secretary General Moses Nthurima confirmed in their speeches to the NGC members that the leaders were not reading from the same script on a number of issues.
They however called for strengthening of the fabric holding the union together and focused on pushing for the improvement of the welfare of teachers by the employer – the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
So tense was the meeting that two branch executive secretaries – William Lokoiyap (Samburu) and Orwa Jasolo (Migori) – were barred by the Mr Milemba and Mr Misori from speaking at the meeting due to their outspokenness and often controversial position on various issues affecting the union.
Members raised serious issues over the deployment of bouncers popularly known as “men in black” at the entrance of the meeting instead of uniformed police officers.
It was resolved that in future meetings, only police officers should be engaged to provide security.
Mr Ronald Tonui, the deputy treasurer, Mr Edward Obwocha the Secretary for secondary schools and Mr Sammy Chelanga the Secretary for Tertiary institutions – led dissenting voices in the union in demanding a more open and consultative approach in suspending or calling off a strike in the future.
“We have said it on record and wish to confirm that the manner in which the recent strike was called off raised a lot of questions and caused division in the union with branch officials and some of us feeling to have been thrown under the bus” Mr Tonui said.
“We should respect union structures, follow the laid down procedures in taking decisions with far reaching implications on the members and avoid appearing to have engaged in under the table deals and not putting all the cards on the table while consulting among ourselves,” He said.
He also noted that dirty political games had been introduced into the aftermath of the suspension of the strike with some claiming he had authored a fake letter recently claiming Mr Misori had resigned as the Secretary General.
“We should put this matter before the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to deal with it conclusively and take action against those involved as opposed to seeking to besmirch people’s otherwise good characters and divert attention of the officials and members on the real issues,” Mr Tonui said.
Dr Nancy Macharia, the TSC Chief Executive Officer, according to the branch officials at the meeting held at Kasarani Sportsview Hotel in Nairobi, arm-twisted the NEB members into suspending the strike, which was officially called off on Friday by the NGC members.
Mr Milemba urged the union officials to focus on unity and strengthening the union instead of jostling for positions ahead of the 2026 election.
“Every previous generation of Kuppet leaders (from founder Tom Chariga) in their epoch always had a major role to play for the organization. As the current generation of leaders, we are standing at the cusp of history” Mr Milemba said.
“The choice we face is a simple one – to allow KUPPET to flourish or kill it. Some of us might think that KUPPET is too big to fall. Nothing can be further from the truth. The bigger we are, the louder we can fall,” he said.
“I beseech us all to withdraw from the endless fights that some of us engaged in. I have previously appealed to us to step back from social media. Unfortunately, we are more engrossed in the media now. This is especially true since the Kuppet strike was suspended,” Mr Milemba said.
Mr Misori admitted that the branch executive secretaries had uncharacteristically taken on NEB for suspending the strike which points to evolving political undercurrents in the teachers’ union.
“The strike opened a genuine rift in our members’ understanding of industrial action as a negotiation tool. The gap in understanding exists at many levels among the NEB members, between the NEB and branches and even among teachers,” Mr Misori noted.
“Regarding the NEB suspension of the strike, the decision was made collectively, in accordance with the NGC resolution on the return to work formula on September 1, 2024. The decision was made also in the best interest of the union,” he said.
Mr Misori admitted that there was a leadership rift in the union and that regrettably “politics has dragged that well thought out decision (to suspend strike) through mud.”
He noted that branch executive secretaries condemned the position taken by NEB to suspend the teachers’ strike.
“On Tuesday (September 16, 2024) some branch officials lodged a petition calling for disciplinary action for alleged gross misconduct by some union officials in accordance with the Kuppet constitution. The petition has generated quite some heat,” Mr Misori noted.
In the meeting, the members opposed an attempt to allow some of the petitioners to speak on the contents of the letter.
“The union has a Standing Disciplinary Committee with the mandate, stamina and credibility to deal with such issues. If and when needed, the NGC will be summoned to deal with any outcome from the committee’s work,” Mr Misori said.
Mr Nthurima and Mr Njenga said in the spirit of collective responsibility, all the NGC should rally behind the decision taken by NEB on the strike and other pertinent issues.
Mr Njenga also said the rift in the union was caused by unnecessary early campaigns ahead of the 2026 election, which had been fuelled by the recent teachers' strike and the manner it was handled.
“There are those who are imagining that some of us are past retirement age, but I wish to clarify that I am still going to be around for a long time,” Mr Njenga said without stating the number of years he still had to serve.
Most of the top union officials are said to be more than 60 years of age which is above the teachers’ retirement age and fear they will be dislodged from their position in the next election.
There has also been an attempt to change the union’s constitution so as to push the retirement age of the officials to 65 years – a matter that has been contested by members of the union.
Mrs Mary Rotich, the Kericho branch secretary said the manner in which the strike was called off was an anti-climax both for the grassroots officials and the teachers involved in the industrial action.
“Unfortunately, the communication on suspension of the strike hit some of us when we were held up in meetings with officials and teachers to deal with logistical issues of the second week of the demonstrations,” Ms Rotich said.
Ms Rotich, “Some were collecting T-shirts and banners from the printing press and others had deposited money for ad-trucks to be used in the demonstration. Most of us had applied for and received authorization from the police to hold a peaceful demonstration. The decision by NEB was very devastating and we are yet to recover from it”
Mr Charles Ngeno, the Narok branch executive secretary said at the NGC meeting that the union “played second fiddle to TSC by agreeing on all the issues on the table on dispute. The issuing of a joint statement between KUPPET and TSC should have been done on neutral grounds.”
