The ongoing leadership tussles in KUPPET was witnessed on Saturday when the governing assembly for Laikipia branch ended prematurely after two groups clashed.
The supremacy war forced the branch at Thingithu Boys Secondary High to end the meeting as members failed to agree.
The meeting was attended by Union National Treasurer Njenga Mwethi, Secretary for secondary schools Edward Obwocha, executive secretaries Robert Miano (Laikipia), William Longoyiap (Samburu), Lynett Kamadi (Mombasa) and Jane Ngige, treasurer, Mombasa.
The treasurer was forced to cut short his speech after a section of teachers expressed displeasure with his remarks.
At one point, he was moved to move out of the venue after some members claimed he was biased in the manner of executing his duties.
This comes after Mwethi accused the officials of the branch of mismanaging the burial benevolent fund, saying that it belongs to members and not officials.
“As the office of national treasurer, we have the right to audit the account of the union because we have received a lot of complaints from the members,” said Mwethi.
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When contacted for comment, Miano blamed the national official of maliciously tarnishing the branch leadership.
“It is sad for a union official to utter such misleading comments because the branch was audited by the registrar of trade unions in the month of May and given a clean bill of health,” Miano said.
One of the teachers who wished not to be named told Education News that it was totally unfortunate for national officials to front one of the branch officials for the next top seat.
“We were coming here to hear the plights of the teachers and not politics. What we need now is to know our next CBA, promotions, we wanted to know why the teachers strike was called out prematurely, among other issues,” he said.
On his part, Miano highlighted the tremendous achievements of teachers since the last year which he described as a success.
“As a union, we have managed to promote over 400 teachers in different jobs groups since last December and we are committed to do more so that the welfare and working conditions of the teachers can be improved,” said Miano.
Obwocha commended the branch for ensuring that the teachers get better in any learning environment.
This comes at a time when KUPPET has been engaging in leadership battles after some top officials tried to amend the union’s constitution in a bid to scrap the retirement age.
In a bid to keep off the stiff competition, the proposed amendments also want the branch officials seeking national office to resign from their current positions before going for top posts.
As a result, petitions and counter petitions have been filed at Employment and Labour Court by members and officials challenging the amendments.
By our reporter
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