The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) woes continue to deepen after some branch members associated with the union turned against their boss Wilson Sossion.
The members led by Stanley Mutai, who recently took over as Kericho branch executive, criticized the manner in which Sossion has conducted operations within the giant union.
"Sossion has brought this union to the lowest end, we want him out. This is a declaration that we are going to restore the union to its former glory," Mutai stated.
A former ally of Sossion, Mutai shifted his allegiance from the KNUT boss after Sossion allegedly sought to have him barred from participating in the Kericho branch elections over corruption allegations.
This ultimately led to a rift between the two former allies whose battle lines were drawn in the Kericho branch elections. Mutai garnered 312 votes beating Sossion's preferred candidate who drew 294 votes.
KNUT has been on its deathbed due to its recent wrangles with the Teachers Service Commission(TSC).
Sossion has often accused TSC of trying to weaken the union by incorporating certain tactics such as recognizing other unions including the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) and the recently launched Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET) which has seen KNUT’s membership significantly drop.
Sossion has in the past pointed out that its membership has reduced from 187,000 to about 30,000 while their income shrunk to Ksh15 million from a high of Ksh144 million.
Further, KNUT recently warned TSC against delaying teachers' salaries arguing that the commission had failed to respond to requests to start negotiations on the 2021-2025 new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
This saw Sossion, in an attempt to make their voices heard, issue a strike notice threatening to derail the forthcoming KCPE and KCSE exams.
The strike notice was, however, called off after a new pay deal was struck with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) who noted that they would give clear timelines of salary negotiations in due time.
