Registrar of Trade Unions rejects Muchai's ouster from Cotu

NAIROBI, KENYA: The Registrar of Trade Unions Esther Gicheha has handed the beleaguered Kabete MP George Muchai a lifeline.

She rejected Muchai's ouster as the deputy secretary general of the country's umbrella workers' union, the Central Organisation of Trade Unions.

The registrar said Cotu had violated its own Constitution and the country's labour laws, therefore Muchai's ouster was invalid.

In a letter dated October 21, 2014 to the Cotu secretary general Francis Atwoli, the registrar told Atwoli that he had failed to prove that Cotu's Executive Board gave Muchai an opportunity to defend himself.

She said the documents that had been submitted to back Muchai's suspension did not have corresponding records to show that Muchai got the notice of allegations against him.

"Ambiguity surrounding the certificates of registered mail cast a lot of doubt as to whether the Deputy Secretary General actually received the said letters," said the registrar in her letter to Atwoli, which is copied to Muchai.

The registrar added that she had scoured the post offices in Nairobi to find out if the Cotu letter had been submitted, or even passed through the post office, but the Post Master General had no knowledge of the Cotu letter.