The Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) will elect their national officials this week against the backdrop of a two-year salary review freeze by the government.
The new development is expected to take centre stage in the campaigns. The officials elected will be expected to offer guidance on negotiations with the government in an attempt to reverse the decision. Already the unions have opposed the salary freeze and threatened industrial action to force the government to rescind it.
Uasu will hold its elections at the Nakuru Athletic Club on Wednesday. The elections were earlier to take place in Kisumu but the venue was changed last week following an upsurge of Covid-19 infections in the region.
The secretary-general, Constantine Wasonga, will defend his seat. He has been challenged by Prof Kubasu Kwashe of Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology while Faith Wambogo Njeru from Maasai Mara University who was also interested in the post was not cleared by the electoral board.
Delegates who will participate in the elections will be drawn from the union’s 34 chapters (universities).
However, there will be no delegates from Kenyatta University after the results of the chapter elections were petitioned in court. The case will be heard on July 15.
The Union of Nairobi chapter conducted its elections on Friday allowing officials who wish to vie for national positions to apply for clearance on Monday.
The registrar of trade unions, E.N Gicheha, directed trade unions to hold elections by the end of June.
The national organising secretary, Muiga Rugara will challenge Prof Muga K’Olale for the national chair’s position. Prof K’Olale is one of the founder members of the union and is based at Egerton University while Rugara, an engineer, is the chair of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology chapter.
Contestants for the national organising secretary are: Bonface Isalambo, Dr Grace W. Kibue, Dr Richard Okero, Lynda Allan, Dr Nyaberi D Mogaka and Onesmus M Mutio.
Candidates who have been cleared to vie for the national treasurer position are: Dr Janepha K Kumba, Dr Daniel K Kirui and Dr Alice LM Murwayi.
Knut will hold its hotly contested elections on Saturday at the Ruaraka Sports Club in Nairobi. The secretary-general, Wilson Sossion, will face off with the acting national chair, Collins Oyuu for leadership of the oldest teachers’ union.
The Kericho branch executive secretary who was also interested in the post has since withdrawn and will contest the national vice chair position. He is in Mr Oyuu’s camp.
Some 1,878 delegates will take part in the elections where candidates are expected to submit their nomination papers on Friday to officers from the Ministry of Labour. The union has 110 branches who were expected to send their list of delegates by last Friday.
Knut has gone through tough times in the last two years, which have seen membership shrink from 187,000 to just under 20,000 following its frosty relations with the Teachers Service Commission. As a result, its monthly income nosedived from Sh144 million to a paltry Sh15 million. Branch officials have been going without pay and many of them have accumulated huge rent arrears.
Meanwhile, the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) will hold its national executive board meeting on Tuesday. Among the issues expected to be discussed is the union position on the salary freeze and the next course of action.
Last Thursday, the secretary-general, Akello Misori, rejected the decision.
“Teachers expect nothing short of a salary increment and the SRC statement will not distract us from our demand. We have activated our organs to re-engage the TSC ahead of the expiry of the current CBA and consider all options available to us in the coming weeks and months,” he said.
