- Hillary Muhalya examines the challenges facing Thomas Mboya after taking over KUDHEIHA’s leadership.
- He argues that workers expect stronger protection of jobs, incomes, rights and workplace representation.
- Mboya must preserve union unity while responding to changing employment conditions and member expectations.
Thomas Mboya has taken the helm of KUDHEIHA at a defining moment for Kenya’s labour movement, inheriting a union whose members are looking to their new leader not merely for continuity, but for stronger protection of their jobs, incomes and workplace rights.
Mboya has been formally registered as Acting General Secretary of the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (KUDHEIHA) following the death of General Secretary Albert Njeru Obed after a short illness.
The Registrar of Trade Unions confirmed his elevation through an extract from the Register dated September 9, 2026, placing an experienced KUDHEIHA insider at the centre of the union’s affairs during the transition.
His appointment comes with an immediate question: Can Mboya preserve the union’s unity while making it more effective and relevant to workers facing a rapidly changing employment environment?
That will be his defining test.
Mboya brings considerable institutional experience to the job. He joined KUDHEIHA in 1993 and rose through its structures, becoming Kakamega Branch Secretary in 2006 before moving into national leadership. He subsequently served as National Treasurer in 2021 and later as Senior Deputy General Secretary.
He therefore knows the organisation from the grassroots to the national level.
But the circumstances of his elevation make his immediate responsibilities particularly demanding.
His first task will be to guarantee stability following Njeru’s death. Ongoing negotiations, collective bargaining agreements, workplace disputes and member representation must continue without interruption.
KUDHEIHA represents a remarkably diverse workforce spanning domestic employment, hospitality, educational institutions, hospitals and allied services. Their individual concerns differ, but their expectations of the union converge around decent pay, job security, safe workplaces and effective representation.
For Mboya, protecting those interests will require more than traditional trade-union rhetoric.
Workers are confronting rising living costs while many employers are under pressure to contain expenses. At the same time, outsourcing, casualisation, temporary contracts and other flexible employment arrangements are reshaping the labour market.
The new Acting General Secretary will therefore have to balance aggressive defence of workers’ rights with practical engagement with employers.
The education connection
One of the most important areas of his mandate will be educational institutions.
Kenya’s education system is often discussed through the experiences of teachers, learners and school leaders. Yet thousands of non-teaching employees keep institutions functioning every day.
Cleaners, cooks, security personnel, drivers, clerical workers, grounds staff, technicians and other support employees form an essential part of the education workforce.
Their working conditions can directly affect institutional stability.
Mboya therefore has an opportunity to ensure that these workers receive greater attention in national education discussions, particularly on pay, contracts, workload, occupational safety and social protection.
The message should be clear: a functioning school requires more than teachers and classrooms; it requires a protected support workforce.
Mboya’s leadership will also be judged by how quickly KUDHEIHA responds to ordinary workers.
A union is most valuable not when its leaders make speeches, but when a member facing unfair dismissal, delayed pay, unsafe working conditions or another workplace dispute can obtain meaningful assistance.
That means strengthening branch structures, improving communication and ensuring that the national leadership remains connected to workers at the workplace.
Younger employees will particularly expect a different kind of union—one that communicates quickly, explains negotiations clearly and demonstrates measurable results.
Mboya’s challenge is to preserve the institutional strength built over decades while modernising how the union serves its members.
A test of legacy and renewal
The death of Njeru inevitably creates a period of uncertainty, but it also presents an opportunity for renewal.
Njeru died on August 29, 2026, after a short illness. He had served as KUDHEIHA General Secretary for 19 years and was also COTU-K Treasurer General.
Mboya must protect existing gains while identifying areas where KUDHEIHA needs to change. He must keep negotiations moving, defend members’ rights and prepare the organisation for a labour market in which employment is becoming increasingly flexible and uncertain.
His acting tenure will also have to provide a credible bridge towards the union’s substantive leadership arrangements.
Ultimately, however, Mboya’s success will not be measured by the position he now occupies.
It will be measured by the experience of the worker at the bottom of the organisation.
Does KUDHEIHA protect my job? Does it improve my working conditions? Does it give me a stronger voice than I would have alone?
Those are the questions that will define his leadership.
Mboya has the experience to understand the union.
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He now has to prove he can turn that experience into unity, stronger bargaining power, and tangible gains for workers.
By Hillary Muhalya
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