Wilson Sossion to be grilled over claims of inciting NEP teachers

Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary General Wilson Sossion will Monday record a statement over allegations of incitement to violence and disobedience in the ongoing stand-off involving teachers posted to parts of North Eastern region.

The teachers have refused to return to work due to insecurity, alleged discrimination and harassment from the locals.

As the two-week-old stand-off continues, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has threatened to sack all the teachers who will have failed to report to work by February 2.

Mr Sossion was summoned by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Friday and ordered to appear today for grilling.

Sunday, the Knut boss said he would honour the summons after police told him in writing that failure to do so could lead to his being prosecuted.

"I will honour the DCI summons because they have invited me procedurally, unlike before when they did so through text messages," said Sossion.

He had earlier refused to appear for grilling and told the officers to summon him in writing and state the reasons for his summons. This was after he alleged that he had been summoned via mobile phone.

Through his lawyer, Chacha Odera, Sossion told the DCI director he was ready to help them with any legitimate investigations.

Sossion also warned TSC against interdicting the 2,000 teachers over their refusal to report to work.

"I dare TSC to interdict the 2,000 teachers who have boycotted duty in NEP. The teachers have very legitimate and life-threatening concerns," he said.

Labour rules

Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli also weighed in on the matter Sunday and supported Knut's position on the affected teachers' plight.

"It is unacceptable for the DCI to summon a trade unionist. The police should keep off industrial relations matters. We have written to the International Labour Organisation complaining about the unfair labour rules applied here. Every time anyone speaks against an injustice, it is taken as incitement," Mr Atwoli said at a press conference in Nairobi.

He added: "The Government is fighting everyone including teachers and the media, and I want to say that we support Wilson Sossion and the teachers who will not go back to North Eastern until their security is guaranteed. You cannot ask people to go to a place where they saw their colleagues die without guaranteeing their security."

Learning in schools in North Eastern Kenya has been paralysed for weeks now as teachers who are not originally from the region continue to stay away.

The teachers vowed to defy the return-to-work order by TSC and dared the Government to sack them, insisting they would not risk their safety for teaching positions.

Trouble started in November last year when teachers were among 64 people gunned down by suspected Al-Shabaab militants as they were heading home for the Christmas holidays.

TSC released a statement asking the teachers stationed in Wajir, Garissa and Mandera to report to work no later than February 2.

The commission said it would replace them if they failed to do so.