Serving KUPPET officials will now be required to retire from office at age 65, rather than 60, as provided in the union’s Amended Constitution of 2024.
This is according to the Labour and Industrial Court ruling of December 18, 2025, which also means that a teacher entering the union leadership just before his or her official retirement age of 60 will have to clear the remaining period within the union’s mandatory five-year term, but not exceeding 65 years.
In a landmark ruling by Judge Nduma Nderi sitting in Nyeri, which was passed to the union’s 2025 Annual Delegates Conference ADC in Homa Bay by the Secretary General Akello Misori, further indicates that even after a teacher has been struck off the Teachers Service Commission TSC payroll while serving in Kuppet, the official will continue to discharge the union’s duties until the age of 65.
An aspirant for the Trans Nzoia February 2026 branch vice-chair polls, Juliana Miheso, said: “Actually, it was not a matter of classroom, but basically the amendments were speaking for the officials, which most teachers regarded as suspect. The union’s retirement age applies only to serving officials.”
She added: “For the TSC as the employed, once one retires from teaching, they are deregistered and can not take part in the teaching activities in public schools unless arranged by the boards of management. But in future we may need to increase representation for effective delivery of services.”
She lauded the expunging of the article from the constitution, which allowed officials who had served on the branch executive committee to be the only eligible to vie for the branch seats.
Miheso explained that amended laws were supposed to be ‘passed, declared and ratified on the ground’ by the Annual Delegates ADC, but faced strong resistance from some members who moved to court to challenge them.
The KUPPET proposed countrywide election has been the subject of intense dispute between the Ministry of Labour and the union, with the Acting Director of Unions, Anne Kanake, summoning the officials to explain why they had convened the elections under the Amended Constitution, despite the matter having been contested in court.
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According to the Ministry, the KUPPET Secretary General, Akello Misori, had violated the court orders by proceeding to call for the polls under the new regulations that, among other things, raised the nomination fees and lowered the age of service for officials from 60 to 65.
But Akello, in a swift rejoinder, assured members that the matter would be finalised in time to allow the union to continue with the elections as earlier planned, adding that nothing would stop them from altering the constitution that was unanimously passed in Vihiga County in 2024.
In hailing Justice Nderi’s judgment, Misori asked all aspirants to stick to the new electoral framework and follow it to the letter, including the set deadlines and the increased nomination fees.
Under the new structure, aspirants for the branch executive seat will pay Ksh 200,000, Ksh 100,000 for the chair post, and Ksh 50,000 for the remaining branch posts. The ADC is also created for regional offices and for four new posts within branches, including Secretaries for Gender and for Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers.
The new laws were reported to have created an open field for both genders, but the female aspirants said they had broken the ceiling and were receiving equal treatment from all the teachers.
In Trans Nzoia, where the nomination deadline is set for January 9 2026, the female aspirants attributed the fair play to the increased representation at the branch level and to the desire for change in the administration of Kuppet.
The aspirants for the Executive seat, Martin Wafula, currently serving as the assistant executive secretary, and Dan Kutai, have so far sealed their nomination by paying the new fees. Outgoing Executive Secretary Furaha Lusweti and Chairman Eliud Wafula have retired from trade movement politics. I am running a few minutes late; my previous meeting is running over.
By Abisai Amugune
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