Cotu threatens to sue the registrar of trade unions

NAIROBI: The Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) has threatened to sue Registar of Trade Unions Elizabeth Gicheha over an ongoing saga surrounding the suspension of one of its top officials.

Cotu Secretary Seneral Francis Atwoli accused Ms Gicheha of interference in the suspension of Cotu Deputy Secretary General George Muchai.

"Your office has the role of effecting registration of changes in office bearers among other duties and not to purport to investigate issues as you seem to have done," Mr Atwoli told Gicheha.

He accused the registrar of trade unions of interrogating the grounds on which officials of unions are suspended and or removed.

"The issues raised by Mr Muchai are not for your interrogation as they require interpretation by a Court of law," he said. Atwoli took issue with Gicheha for allegedly refusing to register Cotu's proposed changes which would have led to the removal of Muchai.

"Your conclusion that the deputy secretary general may not have been served is unfounded and intended to frustrate the Cotu National Executive Board's decision to discipline its officers and or officials when you have no mandate to move in that direction," Atwoli told Gicheha.

POLITICAL INTERESTS

Cotu suspended Muchai earlier this month for allegedly breaching the union's constitution by serving partisan political interests.

Gicheha handed Muchai, who is also Kabete MP, a lifeline after she rejected his removal on grounds that Cotu violated its own Constitution and the country's labour laws.