By Roy Hezron
Former KNUT Secrtary GeneralWilson Sossion
Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General Wilson Sossion has resigned.
Announcing his resignation today, June 25, 2021 in a press conference held at the Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club, Sossion said he will now shift his full attention to legislative duties.
“In the interest of KNUT continuity and its membership, I hereby on June 25, 2021 bow out of KNUT leadership honorably. I shall remain loyal to KNUT and will always be available to advice and support the leadership of the union,” said Sossion.
In his resignation statement, Sossion urged the government not to muzzle the teachers’ union by failing to remit statutory contributions from members.
“I trust that the government of Kenya will release union dues, as I exit, because there has been this argument that as long as Sossion stays the government will not release union dues…I’m making this passionate appeal that the government will find it necessary to allow union dues flow to KNUT so that the leadership and workers earn a salary,” he said.
He added that the education sector had improved greatly with public schools performing better during his tenure compared to the previous KNUT regimes.
Sossion, who is also a nominated Member of Parliament, stepped down from the influential position a day before the union’s elections scheduled for Saturday June 26, 2021 at Ruaraka Sports grounds in Nairobi, after being at helm of the union since 2013 following the death of David Okuta.
He was flanked by his immediate family members including his wife and children.
His resignation means that his Deputy Secretary General Hesbon Otieno is currently acting as Secretary General, and further given Collins Oyuu, who was his strong opponent, a walkover in the Saturday’s elections,
Recently, the two were involved in a bitter exchange involving letters regarding the union’s national elections as to whether to be in person or virtual.
In his letter to acting Labour Commissioner, Ms. Hellen Apiyo dated June 22, 2021 Sossion accused the Commissioner of sabotaging the election process by conducting ‘illegal’ meetings regarding the elections, just hours after the ministry had given the go-ahead to hold the national delegates conference on June 25 and 26, 2021 (Friday and Saturday) hence rejecting their offer to oversee the elections.
Monday June 21, 2021 Sossion and Oyuu took on each other in angry exchange involving letters with Oyuu accusing Sossion of spending a day in the Ministry of Health headquarters pushing for the release of the letter to cancel a process he had been involved in.
In reply, Sossion told Oyuu that he has no powers to neither revoke nor issue circulars since the mandate is assigned to the office of the Secretary General.
Of late, Sossion has been embroiled in a protracted battle with the TSC, which deregistered him as a teacher after he was nominated to the National Assembly.
In May this year, the Employment and Labour Relations Court dismissed his attempt to save his position as a teacher within the corridors of justice after a similar attempt in 2019 flopped.
In his judgment, Justice Radido held that the decision by TSC to deregister him as a teacher is distinct from the termination of his services as a teacher.
“Hon. Sossion did not directly challenge the process leading to the removal of his name from the register of teachers,” said Justice Radido.
In the suit, Sossion challenged the decision by TSC to remove him from the teachers’ register through a gazette notice.
The Knut Secretary-General had hoped that the court would declare the regulations his employer relied on to deregister him as null and void and inconsistent with Article 38 of the constitution.
Sossion was employed as a teacher in 1993 and then elected Executive Secretary of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Bomet branch.
In March 2016, he was re-elected the Secretary-General of KNUT, then a year later, after the 2017 general elections, was nominated to the National Assembly by the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) to represent the interest of workers.
In December 2017, TSC issued a Notice of his Termination from the Teaching Service.
Sossion also narrowly survived another attempt to remove him from office in 2019 when the Employment and Labour Relations Court in September directed that Sossion be reinstated pending hearing and determination of a case in which he opposed his removal from office, and the same time allowed to access KNUT bank accounts.
“…this Honourable court be pleased to issue and order of stay of the suspension of the Applicant by the Respondents directed against the Interested Party touching on the decision made on August 29, 2019 pending the hearing and determination of this suit,” read the judgment.
The judgment added: “That the Honourable Court be pleased to order the status quo of the KNUT register of officials obtaining prior to August 29, 2019 to be maintained with regard to the operations of the KNUT Bank Accounts at Kenya Commercial Bank, Equity Bank and Standard Chartered Bank pending further orders of the Court.”
The embattled KNUT Sossion had been removed from office in a notice from the Registrar of Trade Unions which read in part “I wish to inform you that I have registered the Notice of Change of Officers covering the appointment made on August 29, 2019.”
