A second petition has been filed in court challenging the re-election of Francis Atwoli as Secretary-General of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions Kenya (COTU-K) over allegations of electoral procedural breaches.
The lawsuit, lodged before the High Court at Kerugoya by a lobby group known as the Centre for Public Policy and Research wants orders quashing the election of Atwoli and all other persons purportedly elected as officials of COTU-K on March 14, 2026 during the 15th Quinquennial Governing Council Delegates Conference held at Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu.
The lobby group is also seeking a court declaration that the said elections are unconstitutional, invalid, null and void for contravening Articles 10, 27, 28, 35 and 41 of the Constitution
“The purported election of the Central Organization of Trade Unions (Kenya) (COTU-K), held on March 14, 2026 at Tom Mboya Labour College, Kisumu, is unconstitutional for contravening Articles 10, 27, 28, 35, and 41 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, and is accordingly invalid, null, and void ab initio,” the petition reads.
Additionally, it wants the Registrar of Trade Unions barred from registering, gazetting or publishing the names of Atwoli and any other persons purportedly elected at the conference.
Filed through B. Okoth & Company Advocates yesterday, the petitioners argues that COTU-K conducted its elections in blatant disregard of a mandatory electoral timetable set by the Registrar of Trade Unions through a circular dated September 25, 2025.
That circular established a clear sequencing for the 2026 Trade Union Election Cycle, branch elections were to run from January 5 to March 31, 2026, national elections between April 1 and June 30, 2026, and COTU-K elections to be held only after those processes were concluded, by August 30, 2026.
“COTU-K prematurely conducted its elections and announced officials on March 14, 2026, well before its affiliate unions had held their branch and national elections, and even before the official national election period had begun,” the petition states.
“No valid election of COTU-K officials can occur without delegates properly elected by affiliate unions.”
The petitioners explains that Kenya’s trade union electoral system is deliberately hierarchical by design.
Branch members elect branch officials, who then serve as delegates to national elections, whose winners in turn participate in electing COTU-K’s leadership.
By bypassing this sequence, the lobby group argues, COTU-K severed the democratic link between grassroots workers and federation leadership.
Critically, the petition reveals that branch elections for three major affiliated unions, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), and the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), remain incomplete, meaning the delegates who purportedly voted at the Kisumu conference were not lawfully constituted.
Beyond the timing irregularities, the petition catalogues a damning series of procedural failures it says rendered the entire exercise fatally defective.
Membership registers at both branch and national levels were never updated prior to the elections, a mandatory pre-election requirement under the Registrar’s circular.
No independent electoral boards or committees were established as required by the unions’ own constitutions.
Further, members were never formally notified of the offices open for contest, nomination papers were never reviewed for candidate eligibility, no voters’ register was ever published, no agents, observers or accreditation existed, and no official polling stations were designated or communicated.
“A voters’ register was never published. This is not a minor omission, it is a fundamental failure,” the petition states, warning that without it, “the process lacks transparency, invites manipulation, and effectively disenfranchises members who cannot even verify whether they are entitled to vote.”
The petitioner grounds its case firmly in the Constitution, arguing that the flawed process violated the right to fair labour practices under Article 41, the right to access information under Article 35, the equality guarantee under Article 27, and the right to fair administrative action under Article 47.
According to the court papers, their application seeking interim orders be certified as extremely urgent, with the lobby group warning the court that failure to grant the orders sought would result in irreparable harm to union members who have been denied their fundamental right to participate in the election of their representatives.
The matter is pending hearing at the Kerugoya High Court.
