The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) is set to have a stormy Special Delegates Conference (SDC) to discuss contentious clauses in the Union Constitution if the court will give a green light to the Consent set to be presented before the Nairobi’s Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC).
A copy of the Consent seen by Education News which seems to be an agreement between the petitioners who had filed a petition seeking the suspension of the controversial clauses contained in the union constitution registered on November 20, 2017; KUPPET and the Registrar of Trade Union.
According to the content contained in the Consent document and which emerged yesterday evening, the four petitioners namely Regina Kinoti, Willy Kipkoech Kemboi, Hillary Kibet Chepkwony, and Joseph Nzulai who are all teachers and members of the union; if the court will allow, have agreed that the KUPPET Constitution be align with Article 27 and Article 41 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 in relation to petition number 004 of 2024 which they had previously filed.
“The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) having read and understood the contents of the instant Petition together with its supporting documents; and having sought the counsel of their Advocates on record, have engaged the Petitioners with the aim of aligning the KUPPET Constitution with the Constitution of Kenya (2010) and the Labour Relations Act of Kenya,” reads a section of the Consent.
The alignment as per the Consent will allow the union to retain the provision of three delegates per branch as sufficient quorum for a SDC and further retain the officials elected as MPs who will continue holding their respective offices in the union on part-time basis.
“In keeping with Article 27 of the Constitution of Kenya, there shall be no retirement age for elective positions in the Union. In alignment with electoral laws of Kenya, the Union Constitution shall retain the provisions making it mandatory for Branch Officials desirous of vying for National positions to resign prior to doing so,” reads the Consent.
It further wants the union to maintain the two-third gender rule in the union’s respective national organs, incorporating Persons Living with Disability in the union’s national leadership in keeping with Article 27 of the constitution, and incorporating the matter of regional balance in the union in respective to its National Organs.
“The 1st Respondent (KUPPET) through its appropriate organs shall cause the Union Constitution to be aligned with the Constitution of Kenya and the Labour Relations Act in the above agreed terms forthwith on high priority basis, while paying due regard to the relevant provisions of the Union Constitution, and considering the urgency in aligning the Union Constitution with the Supreme Law of the Land,” reads the document.
“In this regard, the Union’s National Governing Council to meet within 7 days to convene the Special Delegates Conference,” it adds.
Due process
However, these latest development in the ongoing change of the constitution clamour seems not to have gone down well with a section of the union officials.
KUPPET Migori branch Executive Secretary Orwa Jasolo who is also an aspirant in the coming 2026 union national elections stated that they will not accept the change of the union constitution which has not followed the due process.
Jasolo has stated that Kenya is a democracy and KUPPET as a key institution within this democracy, must uphold the highest standards of democratic behaviour, adding that any change to the union constitution must follow the right procedure.
According to Jasolo, the covert sponsorship of petitioners to challenge KUPPET’s constitution and the subsequent collusion to amend it via judicial consent is a cynical ploy to bypass legitimate democratic processes and to eliminate competition.
“This method of amending the constitution, presented to a judge and rendered effective if unchallenged, is a transparent attempt to protect the interests of the incumbent leadership at the expense of the union’s democratic integrity,” said Jasolo in a statement released yesterday night.
“This assault on the democratic fabric of KUPPET cannot be tolerated. The union’s leadership must be held accountable, and these anti-democratic actions must be vehemently condemned and resisted by all stakeholders committed to the principles of democracy and good governance,” he added.
The unionist poke holes in the proposed amendments which he disclosed are contained in a consent which is yet to be filed before court reiterating that the maneuvers by the KUPPET leadership, under the guise of judicial intervention and the use of hired petitioners, represent a grave threat to the principles of democracy and good governance within the Union.
“This attempt to manipulate the constitution for personal gain, specifically to remove the retirement age through court and to ensure lifetime tenure without following the due process, is an affront to the union’s democratic values,” said Jasolo.
“It is unacceptable and undemocratic to force a delegate to resign merely to contest at the national level, while allowing them to remain in office for re-election. This double standard undermines the integrity of KUPPET’s electoral process and is clearly designed to entrench the power of the current leadership.
“Moreover, the notion that three out of ten members can constitute a quorum in a democratic institution like KUPPET is ludicrous. Such a provision can only serve to facilitate political intimidation and blackmail, rather than fostering genuine democratic deliberation. This subversion of democratic norms is not just a procedural anomaly but a deliberate strategy to consolidate power and silence dissent,” he reiterated.
It is not true
When Education News reached out to KUPPET Secretary General Akelo Misori who is currently in Geneva Switzerland as part of the workers delegation to the 112th International Labour Organization (ILO) to find out if truly he sponsored the petition and the consent to change the constitution as alleged by some union officials, Misori responded and said:
“It is not true. How can we do that? There have been so many people who are agitating to stop us from changing the constitution if they have found their way to court, how can we stop them? In this field of ours, there are so many extortionists.”
He added: “If I am having consent to record in court, must I give it to social media first before it is prosecuted? That means that the people who have sponsored the case, if in case it is sponsorship, they are hiding behind that to depict the office that it is the one which has done it, because they themselves are also under pressure.”
Misori went on to explain that just few weeks before he travelled to Geneva, the union National Governing Council (NGC) gave them a go ahead to convene a Special Delegates Conference (SDC), which is the only organ in the union to address the matters relating to the union constitution.
“The court cannot help you amend the constitution. Once I am back in the country, we will organize that Special Conference. You know we now have very serious challenges in our education sector. We have JSS teachers who are engaged as interns and then the backbone of that transition stage. When we are having noise in our union, then our energies are not converted to addressing that issue we are having, we start eating ourselves. These things like changing the constitution are administrative in nature. They are supposed to be dealt with by the union organs,” said Misori.
By Roy Hezron
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