The Ministry of Labour has laid it bare that the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Teachers (KUPPET) should respect the law in the context of its forthcoming branch and national elections.
The Acting Director of Unions, Anne Kanake, in a circular to KUPPET, has insisted that the union cannot purport to call for countrywide branch elections against a contentious matter pending in the High Court.
In the circular dated December 4, 2025, to the KUPPET Secretary General Akello Misori, Ms Kanake emphasised that the union can not close their eyes on a ruling of the Nyeri High Court on March 3, 2025, that suspended the union from using its amended constitution to carry out the union’s grassroots polls and Annual Delegates Conference ADC.
The Ministry of Labour has ordered all trade unions to conduct their grassroots polls, culminating in ADCs, not later than August 2026.
But in a quick rejoinder dated December 8, 2025, Misori asked the KUPPET members not to panic, saying all was well with the planned polls despite the court orders. He expressed hope that the matter would be resolved in good time to pave the way for the elections as earlier scheduled.
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The Secretary General explained that the union’s National Governing Council (NGC) had met and taken note of members’ ongoing concerns about the order suspending the implementation of the new constitution. He was optimistic that the court would dispel the matter and seal the void within a month.
But Misori was assertive that, let the matter not be debated in public, the declarations regarding arrangements for the various grassroots polls remained unchanged. The branch elections are scheduled for January and February, with completion by March 2026.
But Ms Kanake stated that KUPPET violated the law by proceeding to convene the branch polls under the amended constitution, which had been contested in court.
Questions abound: what will happen should the court’s decision be delivered after the completion of the branch polls? How did Misori get wind of the ruling being due in a month? And how does he know the ruling will be made in favour of invoking the amended constitution?
Would there be repeat polls for those who will have been knocked out of office if they nullify the new constitution? Will there be a refund for nomination fees for those reneging on the repeat polls?
Among the hotly contested clauses in the new constitution are allowing aspirants who have retired from the teaching profession after attaining the mandatory age of 60, and increasing nomination fees for branch leadership.
The new fees for the branch executive seat are Ksh 200,000; Ksh 100,000 for the chairmanship; and Ksh 50,000 for the remaining seats within the branch.
According to members, the nomination fees are out of reach for an ordinary teacher earning a salary below Khs 30,000, especially for newly recruited JSS teachers. The union has included the post of the Secretary for the JSS teachers who are domiciled in the primary schools.
For some members, the acceptance of teachers over 60 years old to contest and the hiking of the nomination fees were deliberate attempts to lock out youthful officials from running the union.
Abisai Amugune
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