KNUT leadership row deepens as Collins Oyuu rejects Sossion comeback bid
KNUT leadership row deepens as Collins Oyuu rejects Sossion comeback bid
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) finds itself in the middle of a heated leadership contest, with Secretary General Collins Oyuu forcefully rejecting former union boss Wilson Sossion’s bid to reclaim the top post ahead of the union’s April 3 special delegates conference.
Speaking on Friday, March 20, Oyuu drew a sharp line in the sand, warning that KNUT would not bend its rules for any aspirant, regardless of their stature.
“There is no confusion in the leadership of KNUT. The Kenya National Union of Teachers is not a banana republic where every Tom, Dick and Harry comes from any quarter to try and contest for any position,” Oyuu said.
Adding, “We shall go by the constitution of the Kenya National Union of Teachers, riding it over with the stipulated law on matters of labour and that is the Labour Relations Act revised in 2022.”
His remarks were a direct rebuke of Sossion, the former secretary general who resigned from the position in 2021 and has since formally declared his intention to contest the seat again in the upcoming 2026 union elections.
Oyuu was particularly pointed in questioning the basis of Sossion’s comeback. “So if it is a comeback, you come back from where? Tell us where you were. And if you are there, you stay where you are,” he said.
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The KNUT chief went further, insisting that the fundamental question of union membership disqualified Sossion before any other consideration could arise. “It is a question of coming back. You come back for what?
And from where? I will not deal with non-members of the Kenya National Union of Teachers. I want to repeat non-members. If I were to write non-members in capital letters. This is not their home,” Oyuu declared.
Sossion received a lifeline on February 27, 2026, when the Court of Appeal ruled that the Teachers Service Commission had acted unfairly in terminating his employment as a teacher in 2018.
The ruling has been interpreted as clearing a potential hurdle for his candidacy, as union rules require national officials to have served as teachers for at least eight consecutive years.
However, TSC legal director Cavin Anyuor has said that Sossion remains de-registered from the teachers’ roll despite the ruling. “There’s no court order saying he should be re-registered. The ruling only says the termination was unfair. To be registered after de-registration, one must apply within eighteen months. He’s been out of the register for years and has never re-applied,” Anyuor told Nation.
Sossion had been struck off the teachers’ register in 2019 following his opposition to the Competency-Based Curriculum, with the TSC accusing him of inciting teachers to boycott CBC training sessions.
He was subsequently nominated to the National Assembly by the Orange Democratic Movement, serving as an MP until 2022.
In a formal letter to Oyuu, Sossion had cited constitutional and legal provisions in notifying his successor of his intentions.
Oyuu, however, said he had not received the letter and dismissed its premise entirely. Before beginning a public display of supremacy, vowing to block Sossion’s candidacy.
Nominations for KNUT positions are scheduled for April 2 at Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu, with the Special Delegates Conference set for the following day.
The union’s national vote must be concluded before June 30, 2026.
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