Blow to Dock Workers Union officials as court clears way for polls

Dock Workers Union general secretary Sulman Owour, treasurer Kibibi Omery and chairman Amin Iloti address the media in Mombasa on April 12, 2026. [File, Standard] 

The interim office bearers of the giant Dock Workers Union (DWU), led by acting general secretary Sulman Owour, have suffered a major blow after the court rejected their bid to oppose the elections board on grounds that it was not properly constituted.

Owour, who earlier this year replaced long-serving general secretary Simon Sang in an acting capacity, had moved to the Employment and Labour Relations Court to oppose the union elections board, claiming it had only four members instead of nine, but Justice Ocharo Kebira threw out the petition on Monday.

“Having weighed all the foregoing, the court is satisfied that the applicants have failed to meet the threshold, whether under order 42 rule 6 of the civil procedure rules as applied through rule 21 of the Employment and Labour Relations Court (Procedure Rules, 2024) or under the wider equitable principles discussed above, for the grant of stay of execution, conservatory orders or injunctive relief pending the hearing and determination of the intended appeal,” he ruled.

Justice Kebira dismissed the notice of motion dated June 19, 2026, and filed by Owour in its entirety and declared the judgement of the court dated June 17, 2026, ordering union elections within 60 days was in full force.

On Saturday, Owour and his team boycotted the nominations by the elections board, which went ahead and declared the candidates for the August 13, 2026, polls that had been ordered by the court.

Owour skipped the nominations together with Amin Iloti, and Kibibi Omeery, who were on April 4, 2026, elected national chairman and national treasurer, respectively, but the court nullified the polls, terming them a sham.

Meanwhile, the elections board on Monday released the list of candidates who are set to contest various positions in the August 13 polls.

DWU assistant general secretary Abubakar Mohamed and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) operations officer Salim Kumaka were cleared to run for the general secretary post.

Hassan Shakur and Gunda Kaneno will contest for DWU national chairman, while Idd Mchangamwe was cleared to vie for national treasurer unopposed.

In a circular to the DWU chief shop steward, Justine Angore, dated July 20, 2026, acting elections board secretary Fatuma Shaffi said the board completed the nomination and clearance of the candidates for various positions in the union.

“The elections are scheduled to be held on August 13, 2026, in strict compliance with the court's judgement and orders,” she stated.

Last Saturday, Owour confirmed that he and his team had refused to participate in the nomination of candidates.

Owour had argued that his team did not recognise the elections board headed by former chief shop steward Renson Thoya because it is not allegedly properly constituted.

He said his faction decided to move to court because there was no elections board in place to conduct the elections slated for August 13.

“There is no election board. Article 15 of the union constitution, which establishes the elections board, requires members of the board to be nine... The elections board, which the court mandated to carry out elections, has only four members out of nine,” Owour argued.

He said six members have since been promoted to the management cadre, and according to KPA's policy, management staff are not allowed to take part in union activities. 

“So that board is not properly constituted at the moment. We have moved to court on the same day, and the matter will be heard on Monday. So those nominations are not properly called and cannot be used anywhere,” he said.