Kuppet boss to teachers leaving Knut: You're not welcome

 

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education and Teachers has warned tutors who quit Knut not to join them.

Kuppet national chairman Omboko Milema said the decision by over 100,000 primary school teachers to quit Knut was a risky move.

“Former Knut members are not welcome to Kuppet because our membership is properly stipulated…we take post primary and technical institutions tutors only,” Milema asserted.

Kuppet, Milema on Saturday said had 110,000 members and will not accommodate those leaving Knut.

“It would be like deciding to have one union which is against the spirit of trade unionism and beats logic the purpose of the creation of Kuppet which was to accommodate post primary and technical teachers,” Milema added.

He was speaking in the Kapsabet CITC grounds when he presided over Kuppet Nandi county Branch elections in which Jairo Tormoi trounced Martin Kilel to become the new chairman.

Paul Rotich successfully defended the lucrative branch executive secretary seat, beating Henry Sirma while Salim Bakhit was re-elected to his position of the treasurer.

"Teachers who voluntarily decided  to resign from their Union (KNUT), please don’t make any  attempt to join us ...” said Milema.

Adding that if they would accept such a move, primary school teachers would displace secondary and technical institutions tutors currently holding various leadership positions in Kuppet.

Before a decision by the teachers employer, Teachers Service Commission decided to activate an online resignation platform for Knut members, it boasted of 280,000 memership.

TSC currently has about 350,000 teachers in its payroll - 110,000 being from Kuppet while Knut has 28,000 members while over 200,000 are not in any trade union.

Misfortunes hit the former giant union after ODM party nominated Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion to Parliament to represent the interests of workers.

However, his nomination in 2017, did not go down well with the Jubilee government and teachers' employer TSC.

At one point, Sossion was stripped of his registration as a teacher  by TSC before going to the High Court seeking reinstatement.

Sossion said he will neither quit Knut nor relinquish his nomination as a member of Parliament.

A week ago, ODM leader Raila Odinga hit out at TSC for killing Knut.