Cotu boss Francis Atwoli has accused the Ministry of Labour of disregarding a presidential directive.
In a statement on Thursday, May 5, Atwoli accused top Ministry officials of refusing to gazette the appointment of Rose Omamo to the NSSF Board as directed by President Uhuru Kenyatta during this year's Labour Day Celebrations on May 1.
The vocal trade unionist took issue with the Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui and Principal Secretary Eng. Peter Tum, for allegedly assigning the work to other people instead of taking up their responsibilities.
"In this act of defiance and contempt, both the Cabinet and Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Labour have disobeyed the president by delegating responsibility upwards.
"In no other democracy in the world do presidential appointees, who work at the mercies of the president, behave in the manner in which these two have conducted themselves," Atwoli stated.
According to COTU, the president ordered the Labour cabinet secretary to gazette their nominee to the Board but CS Chelugui passed the responsibility to the Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua.
"That the president ordered his cabinet secretary to gazette COTU(K)'s nominee to the Board only for the cabinet secretary to pass this responsibility to the Head of Public Service warrants further action from the President if his power and authority are anything to go by," the statement read in part.
Atwoli accused the CS and PS of scorning Uhuru's directives and also changed their standing on why they didn't gazette Omamo as the workers' representative to the NNS Board.
"Secondly, and in their act of disrespecting the president, the Ministry of Labour has embarked on a misinformation campaign whereby they have since changed positions on why they didn't gazette Rose Omamo as a workers ' representative to the NNS Board," Atwoli stated.
The COTU boss claimed that the Ministry of Labour had argued that the gazettement of Omamo would be biased taking into consideration the issue of regional balance but after it was established that no region is represented twice on the Board.
"... the ministry has since started a new narrative questioning the capacity of Sis. Omamo to be on the NSSF Board whilst giving us conditions that are nowhere reflected under the provisions of the NSSF Act, 2013."
"Against this new narrative by the Ministry of Labour, Sis. Rose Omamo is articulate in all aspects of academic qualifications and equally runs one of the giant unions in Kenya, namely, the Amalgamated Union of Kenya Metal Workers which is an affiliate of the IndustriALL Global Union which represents over 50 million workers globally in 140 countries. Sis. Omamo is one of the well versed Kenyans in Industrial Relations practice, more than anyone within the Ministry of Labour, and she's the workers' choice," Atwoli stated.
He went on to urge President Uhuru Kenyatta not to take the decision by his Cabinet lightly, since the failure to appoint Cotu's nominee as earlier directed warrants for dismissal of the involved officials.
