Knut polls: Collins Oyuu elected secretary-general
Mr Collins Oyuu is the new Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary-general. Mr Oyuu was elected unopposed during the union’s national elections at Ruaraka Sports Club in Nairobi, on Saturday.
Mr Oyuu becomes Knut’s seventh secretary-general. He will succeed Mr Wilson Sossion who resigned from the union leadership and withdrew his candidature on Friday.
Before he was elected to the position, Mr Oyuu was the union’s acting national chairman.
“This is a day teachers have really looked out for, to have a total change in the leadership of this great union, especially at the top and I want to say specifically in the position of secretary-general,” Mr Oyuu told journalists.
He said that the delegates were happy that what they expected had come to pass.
Saturday's elections saw a total of 1,878 delegates from eight regions across the country vote in person. Mr Oyuu said it was sad that the union’s over 200,000 membership had shrunk to 15,000.
He revealed that currently, Knut receives Sh12 million per month in dues down from Sh141 million.
“Financially, the union is crippled, most of our branch offices are closed and branch secretaries across the 110 offices have not been earning salaries for close to two years,” he said.
Mr Hesbon Otieno retained his deputy secretary-general position in the Saturday elections. Mr Otieno was also elected unopposed.
Others who were elected unopposed were Mr Patrick Kariga (national chairman) and Mr James Ndiku as national treasurer. Mr Hussein Ali Abdi, was also voted unopposed as the deputy national treasurer. The position of the first vice-chairman was won by Mr Stanley Mutai who beat Mr Dan Aloo.
Mr Oyuu promised to work with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the government.
“The union is not at war with the government and with the Teachers Service Commission,” said Mr Oyuu.
