By John Majau.
Meru branch KUPPET executive secretary Karuti Nchebere survived a scare to retain his seat during a hotly contested union’s elections.
The elections which were concluded moments after the night fall show two camps squaring it with Nchebere group winning four seats while the opposing camp emerged victorious after sweeping clean six seats.
The County Returning Officer Mr Kenneth Gichogi said Nchebere won the seat after garnering 1070 votes against his sole opponent Karithi Mpuria who got 1025 votes.
He said the new branch Chairman is Mr Morris Muthomi who emerged victorious after garnering 1192 votes against his sole opponent Mr Douglas Koome who managed 926 votes.
The outgoing Chairman Mr Mburugu Matiri did not contest because he was going on retirement.
Morris Mwiti won the Vice Chairman’s seat after getting 1225 votes against his only opponent Mercy Kinya who managed only 888 votes.
The outgoing treasurer Benjamin Itikiria lost his seat to a new comer Antony Muthomi. Itikiria got 1016 votes while Muthomi garnered 1106 votes.
Fred Maore clinched the Vice Treasurer seat after getting 899 votes with Victory Kagwiria coming second with 674 votes while Karuti Kiburi came third with 436 votes.
The outgoing organising secretary Francis Riungu suffered a major setback when he lost the seat to Nathan Kiprop. Riungu garnered 931 votes while Kiprop won after securing 1192 votes.
Fridah Kinya won the assistant executive secretary seat with 1203 votes against her sole opponent John Mwiti who managed 883 votes.
Nchebere said the teachers have made a bold decision on their leadership and called on all those elected to bury the hatchet and work together as a team for the progress of the teachers and the union.
“Teachers made a resounding decision about the leadership of KUPPET after a grueling campaigns. We shall stand by the teachers decision. Let us bury the hatchet and work together as a team for the progress of the teachers and the union,” said Nchebere.
The newly elected Chairman regretted that Meru KUPPET branch lags behind in development as compared to the neighboring branches and promised to work with the national branch in order to speed up developments.
He promised to work harmoniously with all the teachers from the two camps for the betterment of the teachers noting that the elections were free,fair and transparent.
