The problems facing the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) have escalated after a section of its members called for the ejection of headteachers from the union.
A section of teachers from Siaya County have come out to complain and now demand a policy that bars headteachers from joining trade unions to be implemented.
Bunge La Walimu Group Chairman Antony Awuor told the press that TSC had come up with guidelines that ensure headteachers do not hold positions in trade unions, but that was not being implemented.
He challenged KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu to immediately intervene on the matter.
“We want to address this issue of administrators being in the leadership of KNUT. We want Oyuu to know that we are much aware of what is going on,” Antony Awuor remarked.
Owuor proceeded to say that though the TSC had issued guidelines that from July, the school heads were supposed to be barred from those positions, Siaya has been exempted.
“CBA bars headteachers from being members of the union. In Siaya here, the headteachers are the ones who hold the most lucrative positions,” one of the KNUT members noted.
The group’s chairman has said that despite the efforts to have this issue addressed, nothing has been done and no communication has been made.
“It is now long overdue and we are left with no option but to let the whole nation know about it,” he lamented, adding that they would be forced to seek legal redress on the matter.
In the agreement that was signed by TSC and KNUT leadership on the 13th of July, all secondary school teachers would no longer be members of KNUT. The deal also barred all primary and secondary school headteachers from joining the union in whatever capacity.
Upon being contacted, Siaya Branch Executive Secretary Alex Dunga dismissed those demands. “I had stipulated clearly that any worker has a right to join trade unions and even has the right to be elected,” Dunga explained.
He added that the implementation of CBA was not immediate but would be effective in 2026.
This comes at a time when the TSC is having many problems with KNUT. Earlier on, when the ministry of labour was authorising unions to collect fees from their employers, KNUT was not among them.
Earlier in September, 150,000 KNUT members were affected by TSC salary deductions.
At the same time, membership of the union has shrunk 187,000 to just 15,000 - affecting the financial power of the once mighty union.
