Court ruins Sossion hopes for virtual voting
Embattled Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary general Wilson Sossion is walking along the biblical road to Golgotha as he desperately fights to defend the seat he has held since 2013.
More than 1,800 Knut delegates are scheduled to converge in Nairobi tomorrow for the Special Delegates Conference to elect new officials.
Sossion’s eight-year tumultuous reign at Knut helm looks nigh with majority of the delegates under the stewardship of the union’s chairman Collins Oyuu, baying for his blood.
Last-minute efforts by Sossion to scuttle the impending in-person meeting for a virtual one was scuttled by a court in Eldoret that ruled that elections must be held latest by tomorrow.
“To this extent, the only reasonable order that commends itself to me in the circumstances is to reiterate the interim order issued on May 27, 2021 suspending the circular issued on May 27, 2021 in so far as it purports to unlawfully vary the approved delegates list of October 14, 2019 and further the elections scheduled for June 26, 2021 to proceed by in-person voting as agreed by the National Steering Committee (NSE),” Justice J N Abuodha of the Employment and Labour Relations Court ruled.
The petition had been filed by Hellen Wanjala Nderitu and Lucas Oluoch seeking to stop Sossion from interfering with the agreed delegates list and manipulating the elections by seeking to dispense with in-person voting which was allegedly agreed upon by NSE.
Hours after the ruling, Sossion issued a circular to all Knut branches notifying them of the elections tomorrow as well as inviting interested candidates for all positions.
All candidates interested to contest for any position have until 5pm today to submit their nominations to the returning officer.
“Pursuant to and order issued by the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Eldoret on June 23, 2021, I wish to state that Knut leadership shall observe the industrial court ruling and hold national elections as earlier scheduled on June 26, 2021 at Ruaraka Sports Club,” Sossion stated in the notice.
At least 11 positions are up for grabs in the elections in which Sossion’s Rift Valley has been allocated 503 delegates, the highest number of delegates, followed by Nyanza with 327.
Other regions have been allocated delegates as follows: Central 211, Coast 139, Eastern 392, Nairobi 43, Western 238 and North Eastern 25.
Eat humble pie
Daggers are now drawn with Oyuu’s camp accusing Sossion of allegedly driving the union to its death, claims the latter has denied saying the government is behind the scheme to dislodge him from the position he captured in an acrimonious election in 2013 when he reportedly used unorthodox means to remove former boss Mudzo Nzili from office.
Nzili had succeeded former Knut secretary general the late David Okuta Osiany.
However, Sossion manipulated the change of Knut constitution to allow him step down as the union’s chairman and instead go for the powerful Secretary General position.
A protesting Nzili was forced to eat humble pie and instead opt for the chairmanship for his survival.
Sossion’s opponents are accusing him of among other things causing friction between the union and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), drop of the union’s membership from 200,000 at the time he took over to 15, 000 members currently, disregard of the union’s administrative organs such as the National Executive Council and the constitution and closure of several branch offices countrywide.
They have also accused him of being a poor negotiator and led to the closure of several branch offices countrywide.
Principled person
“Sossion believes in being in power than the power of the people, not knowing that the power of the people is stronger than the people in power,” Oyuu said yesterday.
He said teachers are dissatisfied with how Sossion has been handling the standoff with TSC, accusing him of operating as a lone ranger.
“He runs the union activities like a kiosk and in total disregard of the constitution.
He does not have any strategy on how to revive the union and hence his continued stay at the helm will only lead to its total collapse,” Oyuu claimed.
But Sossion has denied the claims accusing the Oyuu group of being used by the government to remove him from the helm because he is “principled.”
“It is a scheme that began years back but we cannot back down. They have done everything possible, including removing our members from the register, to kill the union. But our resolve has been strong,” he said.
He cites the decision by TSC to deregister him as a teacher last year as part of the wider scheme to remove him.
“I can describe myself as a man of all seasons. They have unsuccessfully made several attempts to kick me out, but I have proved to be strong.
Even tomorrow, it is the teachers who will decide and not the government,” Sossion said last evening.
Sources say attempts by Sossion to use a number of intermediaries, including ODM leader Raila Odinga and COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli to broker a truce between him and the government have borne no fruit.
In January this year, Raila made a scathing attack on TSC for allegedly being bent on killing KNUT.
“As of today, membership of Knut has shrunk from a high of Sh 187, 000 to 23, 000.
Its income has dwindled from sh 144 million to Sh 15 million against a salary portfolio of Sh 80 million for over 600 workers spread across the country,” Raila stated then in a statement.
Those in the know say that Sossion’s move to affiliate Knut to COTU was a desperate attempt by the embattled nominated ODM MP to seek “refuge” in Atwoli, who seems to be in good books with the government.
