Beleaguered Kenya National Union Teachers (Knut) secretary general Wilson Sossion was yesterday ejected from office in a day of drama that saw police use teargas to secure the headquarters.
The move was a culmination of weeks of protests by union officials and members and what was seen as Sossion’s belligerent posturing against the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
Despite a spirited fight and resolute vows to stay put, union members and officials have steadily upped pressure to have him relinquish his position.
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Sossion, however, has stuck to a strident stance and yesterday laughed off the ouster, questioning the validity and legality of the meeting that threw him out of office.
The union’s top decision-making organ, the National Executive Council (NEC), appeared to bow to pressure to kick out the Knut chief.
The writing appeared to be on the wall for Sossion when he was struck off the teachers’ register by the TSC last month.
Despite a court order obtained by Sossion on Wednesday, the NEC yesterday held a meeting at a Nairobi hotel where it resolved by a two-thirds majority to kick out the besieged union boss.
Immediately after the vote , the members filed a notice of @@@@ to the registrar of societies.
Addressing a press conference at the union headquarters afterwards, Knut Thika branch executive secretary Joe Mungai announced to those present that “the mission has been fulfilled”.
“Members, our coming here is not in vain; our assignment has been achieved, you better learn from today to refer to Knut deputy secretary general Hesbon Otieno as our acting national secretary general,” Mungai told union officials and members who had gathered in the city.
Hundreds of union officials, members and trade unionists had on Tuesday turned up for the meeting expressly called to kick out the firebrand Knut boss.
“Sossion, is not our SG, he has been suspended and replaced by Hesbon Otieno. The union does not belong to any individual, it’s for all members,” Mungai announced.
In evicting Sossion, a nominated Member of Parliament, the NEC relied on the Knut constitution that stipulates that union members must be registered teachers, certified, licensed or authorised to teach.
Accordingly, Sossion ceased being a licensed or certified teacher after he was struck off the teachers’ roll after joining active politics as nominated Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) legislator.
“Persons eligible for membership of the union shall be only those who are, or have been regularly and normally engaged as a teacher,” reads the Knut constitution.
It further says: “…one shall cease to be a member of the union if he/she has been dismissed and his/her certificate, licence or authority to teach has been cancelled by TSC.”
But a defiant Sossion dismissed his ouster as a resolution of a section of NEC members at a meeting that was not legally constituted.
“Whatever they have deliberated is a nullity, there is an existing court order restraining anyone from convening the NEC meeting,” he said, adding: “Knut as a union does not belong to any individual or a sect, it belongs to members.”
If he is to be removed from office, he insisted… “it will not be through street protests bankrolled by some powerful individuals and TSC, but through a legally constituted Annual Delegates Conference (ADC)”.
“Anyone purporting to have removed or expelled a constitutionally elected secretary general is just but wishful thinking. I will only be removed by members through an ADC,” Sossion said.
The People Daily has established that 50 branch executive secretaries from across the country and some 12 members of the National Executive Council faulted Sossion for putting the union in a collision path with their employer (TSC) and the government.
A source that attended the meeting said Sossion’s ouster was long overdue, as it had become apparent that he was against delocalisation and promotion of teachers through productivity and blamed him for the interdiction of over 280 teachers countrywide for opposing the rollout of the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC).
The sentiments were shared by Janet Nzisa, a teacher from Machakos county, who supported the ouster and blamed Sossion for allegedly cannibalising members and being unable to represent union members in negotiations with the employer on welfare matters.
Nzisa held that while teachers are entitled to a medical cover, Sossion as the spokesperson of the union had failed to negotiate with the employer to stop double deductions from insurance firms AON and national insurer National Hosppital Insurance Fund (NHIF).
“We feel deserted, you can imagine the agony we feel when hospitals credited by AON, for example, turn away teachers or decline to offer medication to teachers,” complained Nzisa, who was among teachers who had turned up for yesterday’s meeting to fire Sossion.
She also charged that Sossion had resisted every programme proposed by TSC and the parent ministry.
“I represent the classroom teacher in this protest, we are tired of Sossion’s court battles with TSC,” she said.
Earlier, police were forced to use teargas to disperse union members who had camped outside the Knut headquarters as they sought to force Sossion’s resignation.
Four people, including a trade unionist, were arrested for causing chaos as a section of officials tried forced their way into Knut House to eject Sossion.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the Knut boss was in the office when the officials stormed the building.
Sossion’s confrontation with Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha and the Teachers Service Commission over the rollout of the Competence-Based Curriculum was the latest of the many run-ins he had with the government.
According to Sossion, the CBC roll out was being rushed saying that the country was not ready.
“Fair labour practice means you cannot be forced to teach using a method you are not well prepared. And so with immediate effect, we are reiterating announcements we have made…. we are not going to teach CBC in our classrooms anymore,” he said in April.
But Magoha while launching the CBC told off Sossion, at one time rhetorically posing: “Whom do you think you are?”
A few weeks ago, Sossion hit out at TSC for backtracking on the 2016 CBA and accused the teachers employers of discriminating against tutors who are members of Knut.
“It is unfair for TSC to vent their bitterness through the payroll... teachers are not street or casual employees. There are clear guidelines,” he said.
On July 27, 2019, the Employment and Labour Relations Court ruled that Sossion should be struck off the teachers’ register, following a case filed by TSC.
The commission had moved to court to have him deregistered and on January 17, 2018, the court obliged.
According to TSC, Sossion should have resigned or retired from his teaching position after being nominated to Parliament, in compliance with regulations.
However, Sossion filed a petition claiming the decision was prompted by malice, ill-will and an abuse of the office of the TSC chief executive.
