Cotu polls a litmus test for Atwoli and team

The Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) goes to the polls next Saturday in what could be the last term for several long serving officials.

The elections will be preceded by a meeting bringing together members of the union's executive board and the secretary-generals of all the 42 trade unions affiliated to the giant umbrella body, to be held at the Golf Hotel, Kakamega, on Friday.

It is this meeting that will set the agenda for the elections to be held at the Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu the following day, sources within Cotu told the Sunday Nation.

Our sources revealed that all the serving National Executive Committee (Nec) members led by Secretary-General Francis Atwoli and the Chairman Rajab Mwondi will defend their seats.

Other top officials in the Nec expected to defend their seats include Deputy Secretary-General Benson Okwaro, First Vice-Chairman Joel Chebii, First Assistant Secretary-General Ernest Nadome and Treasurer-General Rebecca Nyathogora.

Mr Okwaro and Ms Nyathogora were elevated to their current positions midstream following the removal of former Deputy Secretary-General, the late George Muchai, and former Treasurer Ogutu Nyang’un over allegations of financial impropriety.

Mr Nyang’un is still facing fraud charges in court.

It had been expected that a number of the long serving executive members including Mr Mwondi and Rev Chebii would not defend their seats, but sources confirmed that they had all expressed interest in being re-elected for the last term.

“As far as I know, none of them is going home, all of them are determined to defend their seats and serve for one more term before handing over to the next generation,” our sources at Solidarity Building said.

The Kakamega meeting will be used primarily to agree on a power sharing arrangement that takes care of the interests of the various trade unions and the ambitions of the new crop of trade union leaders keen to vie for positions in the Nec and the Executive Board as they position themselves to take over from the older generation.

IEBC SHOULD LEAVE

The new generation of trade union leaders within Cotu include Kenya Electrical, Trade and Allied Workers Union General-Secretary Ernest Nadome, who has in the recent past been representing Mr Atwoli in meetings abroad. 

Mr Nadome has, however, served in Cotu as an executive board member for a decade and is thus considered in some circles as part of the older generation.

Others include Boniface Kavuvi of Kenya Commercial, Food and Allied Workers Union, Seth Panyako of National Nurses Union, Erick Oduor of Kenya Union of Journalists, Dr Omondi Oluga of Doctors Union and Moss Ndiema of Kenya Aviation Workers Union.

None of these youthful unionists has openly declared interest in any of the seats.

The Atwoli-led union is also expected to use the Kakamega strategy meeting to take clear positions on a number of burning national issues including the push for the removal of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) officials and the issue of corruption in the country.

The umbrella union’s body has already taken a stand on the IEBC matter with Mr Atwoli demanding that the current commissioners should vacate office for the sake of the commission’s credibility.

“I don’t see how this country will have free and fair elections next year if the elections will be conducted with the same people at IEBC. We do not have confidence in the Commission and that is a fact. IEBC should go home or be reconstituted before any further plans for next year’s election,” said the veteran trade unionist. 

He called on the government to make sure that the institution gathers public trust and confidence.