Former Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Mumias branch Chairman Rashid Wafula has recounted his time with the late John Wesonga, who up to his death was serving as the union Second Vice-National Chairperson.
Wafula, who retired from teaching service last year 2022, told Education News that he started working with Wesonga before he joined the union in 1997; when he (Wesonga) was a delegate of the then Kakamega Teachers Co-operative (KATECO) which has now been rebranded to Invest and Grow Saving and Credit Co-operative ( IG Sacco) representing Kakamega Municipality.
Then, Wafula was a Branch Executive Committee (BEC) member of Mumias representing the current Mumias East, Central and South Wanga in the larger KNUT Kakamega branch – now Kakamega County – which also stretched to include Vihiga.
“I started working with him when he was not even in the union. I was a BEC of Mumias when he was a co-operative delegate. He crossed over to come to Mumias after quite some time when I was already in the union. I joined the union as a BEC in 1996,” said Wafula.
He added: “At that time, Kakamega branch was the current Kakamega county plus Vihiga. After some time, we broke off from the giant [KNUT] Kakamega [branch] to come back and form Butere/Mumias. That time I was still a BEC and John [Wesonga] was KATECO delegate of Kakamega municipality. That must have been in 1997.”
According to Wafula, they later come back to Mumias to start another branch – KNUT Butere/Mumias branch – hence they were forced to face another by-election after having been elected in 1996, and Wafula together with other officials sailed through.
The next union election, which took place in 2000 and also the first election for Butere/Mumias branch, Wafula noted that Wesonga joined them where he contested for the position of Branch Vice-Executive Secretary against Edmond Makokha and won, while he (Wafula) retained his Branch Chairman position while the Executive Secretary was Amos Eshikumo.
After some time, Wafula stated that the then branch Executive Secretary died and he had an intention of vying as the branch executive secretary to replace him; but due to complexity of his position as branch Chairman, he was busy with preparations for the burial of their colleague, Eshikumo, hence he left the position to Wesonga to vie.
“After sometime, Amos [Eshikumo] didn’t last long, he had an accident and passed on in Butere, after his pick-up lost control and rammed into a tree and died on the spot. I wanted to vie for Executive Secretary that time, but having been the chairman; I was very much involved for the arrangements for the burial of Amos [Eshikumo]…I left my intention of contesting Executive Secretary seat,” recalled Wafula.
Wesonga acted as an Executive Secretary and was elected full-time as the branch Executive Secretary in the by-election that was held in 2003 following Eshikumo’s death, where he faced Jimmy Owandati from Butere and served the remaining term in the branch with Wafula being the Chairman for Butere/Mumias branch.
The branch was later sub-divided into Butere and Mumias branches and the duo went to contest for the Chairman and Executive Secretary seats of KNUT Mumias branch; and they were elected unopposed in the 2005 general election which was held at St. Peter’s Mumias boys high school, while Job Mwanza was elected as the new branch Treasurer for Mumias and they served for 5 years.
In 2011 Wesonga was later elected the Western KNUT Regional Secretary as Wafula was elected the Vice Chairman Knut western Region. They were again re-elected during the 2016 elections with Wafula as branch chairman and Wesonga as Executive Secretary.
The 2021 election, which witnessed a delay in polls for Mumias, saw emergence of two camps in the branch with one camp being led by Wafula, which by then was affiliated to the then Secretary General Wilson Sossion and the other by Wesonga which was affiliated to then acting National Chairman and now Secretary General Collins Oyuu.
Wafula later lost his position as Chairman when the elections while Wesonga retained his Executive Secretary position and during the union National Election in June 2021, Wesonga easily won the position of Second National Vice-chair where he was contesting with Bungoma East branch Executive Secretary Aggrey Namisi.
Stanley Mutai, the Kericho branch Executive Secretary was elected as the first Vice National Chairman during the election. Wesonga died today July 6, 2023 at Nairobi hospital following a long illness.
Wafula stated that for the period they have worked with Wesonga, he was suffering from high blood pressure.
However, KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu is expected to provide more details regarding the late Wesonga’s death.
By Roy Hezron
Get more stories from our website: Education News
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
