Drama as court reverses order in last-minute changes to allow Knut elections
Delegates take part in the Knut nominations at Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu on April 2, 2026, ahead of tomorrow’s elections.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) will continue with its national elections after the Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC) in Kisumu overturned its earlier orders stopping the elections.
The ruling paves the way for the elections scheduled to be held at the lakeside city’s Tom Mboya Labour College on Friday, to proceed as earlier planned.
Justice Nzioki Wa Makau has issued fresh orders clearing the way for 2,280 Knut delegates to elect office bearers for 44 national positions, which were declared vacant.
The judge stated that the earlier orders he issued stopping the election had been obtained by the petitioner, George Anyona Arek, through the concealment of facts.
However, the petition will still be heard inter partes as earlier scheduled by the court, Justice Makau directed.
Mr Arek has named the Registrar of Trade Unions, Knut, Nairobi branch and two others as respondents.
"The election slated for March 3rd April, 2026 shall proceed as scheduled since the orders suspending them were obtained by concealment of crucial material to wit that there was another pending before the Nairobi ELRC court in ELRC PET NO.E099 of 2026, Wilson Sossion versus Kenya National Union of Teachers and others in which a ruling was delivered earlier today declining to grant the orders sought herein" Justice Makau ruled.
He stated that "the orders be served electronically to all parties including Returning Officer, immediately"
"Immediately we received the earlier orders on Thursday mid-morning stopping the election, we immediately commissioned our lawyers to move to court for review of the orders on the grounds of concealment of the facts by the petitioner," Mr Collins Oyuu told Nation by phone.
Knut Secretary General Collins Oyuu addresses the media at the Tom Mboya Labour College on Friday, April 3, 2026.
Mr Oyuu said: "We are going full throttle with the election on Friday as we had conducted nomination with 99 percent of the positions (holders) being declared unopposed."
“In the end, we now know who our enemies are and most importantly, who our friends are," Mr Oyuu stated.
Following the earlier orders, there was anxiety among the members of the 110 branches who were already in Kisumu for the election.
The delegates had booked into hotels while they waited for clearance to hold the poll or to return home before the petition was heard and determined.
In a fresh circular to branches, the union, through an executive officer, J Gitari, on behalf of the union's election board, informed the delegates that they will be cleared for participation in the poll between 8:30 am and 12:00 pm.
On Wednesday, Justice Jacob Gakeri dismissed Sossion's petition filed under a Certificate of Urgency seeking to stop the election until his case is heard and determined.
The former ODM nominated MP claimed in the petition that the Knut election process outlined in a circular dated March 13, should be suspended until all union branches, including Turkana, and the 47 County Councils conducts election, and are declared fully constituted.
Still, Mr Sossion sought to bar the processing, registration and/or certification of any election results by the officers from the Ministry of Labour.
Former Knut Secretary-General Wilson Sossion.
Mr Sossion was seeking a comeback to the union after resigning on June 21, 2021, a day before the national election, which saw Mr Oyuu, then serving as chairman, easily sail through as Secretary General.
Mr Oyuu said on Thursday that the delegates and ordinary union members had confidence in the leadership of the team under him, thus the outcome that 99 percent of officials were unopposed during the nomination held on Thursday ahead of the Friday poll.
"As a matter of fact when we took over leadership, Knut had 9,600 members and we have raised the numbers to 179,000 as we seek to have all teachers on board," Mr Oyuu said, adding that teachers who had been on agency fee had regularised their membership ahead of the branch elections.
Mr Oyuu is leading a charge for re-election by Mr Hezbon Otieno, the Deputy Secretary General, Mr Patrick Munuhe Karinga, the national chairman, Mr Malel Langat (First National Vice chairman), and Mr Aggrey Namisi (Second National Vice chairman).
National Treasurer James Ndiku, the Deputy National Treasurer Kennedy Ondieki Nyamwanda, the Assistant National Treasurer, Kullow Sheikh Mohamed, Woman Representative, Mercy Kiambati, Ms Mercy Muthoni Ndung’u, the second national woman representative, are also defending their positions, along with the union Trustees, Boniface Tenai, Albert Njeru and Dan Aloo.
The Knut Assistant Secretary General, Rosalia Mukanjala, is under siege from delegates with Mr Lennox Mwakio Mshila, the Taita Taveta branch executive secretary, fronted by eight regions to take over the position.
Mr Stephen Misoi, the Nandi South executive secretary, is contesting against Mr Tenai for the Trustee position, while Mr Aloo and Mr Njeru are unopposed.
According to the Knut Constitution, in order to contest for any of the national positions, one must have been a teacher and a member of the union for eight consecutive years.
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