Knut branches want court to order national meet held

A section of Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has moved to court to have Secretary General Wilson Sossion (pictured) compelled to call a National Executive Council meeting.

Officials from seven branches – Nairobi, Kericho, Lamu, Kakamega, Garissa, Wajir and Muranga – want the Employment and Labour Relations Court to set aside the decision by Mr Sossion that postponed the meeting that was scheduled for August 29, 2019.

In a petition filed at the court in Nakuru last Friday, the trade unionists want the teachers union allowed to conduct the meeting before December 16.

They moved to court to challenge a letter issued by Sossion on October 24, 2019, that postponed the National Executive Council (NEC) and Knut Annual Delegates Conference (ADC) meetings to August 2020.

The applicants, in a notice of motion dated November 27, want Justice Monica Mbaru to order Sossion to convene the NEC meeting pursuant to the constitution of the union.

“That the respondent be directed to convene a meeting pursuant to the requisition by the members vide letter dated August 7, 2019 or pursuant to any other requisition he may receive under Article 1X(B)(3) of the Knut constitution revised in December 2015,” read the motion in part.

They also want the meeting convened on a date falling not later than December 16, 2019.

Other orders sought

They want court orders to prohibit Sossion from issuing notices postponing meetings. They also seek cost of the application.

They accuse Sossion of going against Knut constitution that requires them to hold the meetings annually in December.

They also say that they were not consulted by Sossion (above), he did not give a reason for the postponement and that the postponement was communicated less than three days to the meeting date.

“The rules and the regulations of Knut doesn’t allow the respondent to postpone any NEC meetings since he has no powers to do so,” reads the application.

According to the union, Sossion's decision will affect the union. They claim not only will Knut be crippled, but NEC and more than 100,000 teachers in the union will suffer.

“The rights, interests and welfare of teachers in the union are safeguarded by decisions and policies passed by ADC and enforced by NEC. Postponing meetings set to address the state of Knut violates legitimate expectations of the union and thousands of teachers nationwide,” read the application.

They say that the decision will also affect the way Knut functions next year since it has only held one meeting this year and the union will proceed to the new year without a plan, policies budget approvals and programmes for 2020.

Union notices

They say that if the court doesn’t compel Sossion to convene a meeting, it will be pushed to December since notices for such meetings are supposed to be issued two months before the date.

The matter will be heard tomorrow after Justice Mbaru certified it as urgent. She directed the applicants to serve the respondent with the application.