Battle for votes as teachers eye posts in Knut and Kuppet

By STEPHEN MAKABILA The season of elections has electrified local union politics as those eyeing elective positions battle it out for votes.
In the next five days and for the next three months, the Kenya National Union of Teachers ;(Knut) politics would be spiced-up by hotly contested elections in 110 branches.
The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), on the other hand, seems to be in limbo as wrangles and politics of witch-hunt emerge ahead of the polls.
Branch elections for Knut will be held between February 25 to May 28, culminating to a National Delegates Conference (NDC) in June, to elect new national office bearers for the 200,000 strong-member union.
The Knut elections come after members forced former national office bearers out of office last year. This ushered in acting national officials led by Chairman Wilson Sossion and Secretary General David Okuta Osiany.
Teachers have in the past conducted their affairs with decorum but it was a different story last November at a meeting in Nairobi, when they not only shouted at each other but also engaged in physical confrontation. Several photojournalists and teachers also sustained bruises in the scuffle.
The contention was on whether the now retired Knut Chairman George Wesonga, Lawrence Majali (secretary general) Fred Ontere (national treasurer) and Benson Githuku (assistant treasurer) were to remain in office or not, with one group for and another against extension of their term.
Reserved for women "That is history because things are no longer the same again. We have a revised Constitution approved by the Advisory Council in Mombasa on December 8, 2010 and that would guide our elections," said Mr Sossion.
He says the elections would be above board, since the Ministry of Labour and the Registrar of Trade Unions would be in charge.
"I may be the acting chairman but I am in the race just like any other person since it’s an open contest. In Knut we believe in elections based on merit. If I deserve the position, then teachers can elect me," said Sossion.
He said despite the pressure from Knut members, the advisory council was reluctant to increase the number of branches based on Government administrative districts.
"We can only establish a branch where there is a Teachers Service Commission (TSC) unit – the District Education Office – because that is where teachers’ issues are handled," noted Sossion.
In conformity with the new Constitution, Sossion added the union would ensure one third of positions right from the branches to the national office are reserved for women. "A trained and qualified teacher shall be eligible for election as a Knut branch official after five years of continuous services as a teacher and as a member of the union," he clarified.
In Kuppet, confusion has been reigning after union branch elections were recently called off following a split among national officials on the mode of elections, only for some branches to go on with the exercise.
The Registrar of Trade Unions W K Langat had postponed the elections due to a stand off between Kuppet Chairman Akello Misori and the Secretary General Njeru Kanyamba.
The row at Kuppet, which has a membership of about 30,000, has split the union’s national office into two camps with one allied to Secretary General Njeru Kanyamba and Second Vice National Chairman Urbanus Mativa and the other to the chairman Misori.
Monthly subscriptions On Wednesday, Mr Kanyamba in a letter to Langat, alleged Misori, Zaddock Kisyenya (first vice national chairman) and Moses Nthurima (deputy secretary general) had ceased to be union members.
"The three have not submitted their monthly union subscriptions for nearly one year and in the circumstances have ceased being union members," said Kanyamba.
And despite the union branch elections having been called off, four Rift Valley branches — Nandi, Uasin Gishu, Kericho and Nyahururu — last week elected new officials. Over 300 post-primary school teachers participated in the elections in Nandi where they also called for harmonisation and improvement of their scheme of service.
During the elections, Julius Korir was elected unopposed as the Nandi County executive secretary, Josiah Ngeny as chairman and Oboyele Madege as treasurer.
In Eldoret, Rosemary Murundi was picked as branch executive secretary, Henry Tanu as chairman and James Kimeli as vice chairman, among others.
In Kisii, a group allied to Misori swept all the ten seats at elections held at the Kisii County hall.
Cardinals Otunga Mosocho’s Paul Onchera was elected chairman after garnering 345 votes against his only competitor Benjamin Okeyo of Itierio Secondary School who got 166 votes.
However in Nyahururu, confusion marred local Kuppet branch elections after a group boycotted the exercise.