The Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary General Francis Atwoli's rant to President Uhuru Kenyatta against Labour Cabinet Secretary, Simon Chelugui, has finally paid off.
Atwoli had accused the Labour CS of disregarding a presidential directive in appointing Rose Omamo to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Board.
The COTU boss wrote to Uhuru urging him to sack the CS and his Principal Secretary, Eng. Peter Tum, for allegedly allotting their work to other people and ignoring Presidential directives.
On Friday, May 6, Atwoli announced that President Uhuru Kenyatta had intervened and Omamo was officially appointed to the NSSF Board.
"We would like to thank Uhuru Kenyatta for his intervention in ensuring that Kenyan workers are fully represented on the NSSF Board. The appointment of Rose Omamo safeguards the interests of workers on the Board," he stated.
The COTU boss hinted that his public exposure of the CS and Ministry of Labour officials was the reason behind the CS's hasty appointment.
On Thursday, May 5, the vocal trade unionist accused CS Chelugui and PS Tum of allegedly assigning the work to other people.
"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.
"That the President ordered his Cabinet Secretary to gazette COTU'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 ignoring Uhuru's directives and also changing their stance on why they had not gazetted Omamo as the workers' representative to the NSSF 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 NSSF 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.
