Embattled Knut Secretary General Wilson Sossion was suspended before the Registrar of Trade Unions was served with an order against this, acting SG Hesbon Otieno told a court on Thursday.
Otieno said this in his response to Sossion’s claim to the contrary – that the Teachers Service Commission, the union, the National Executive Council and the Registrar of Trade Unions defied a court ruling.
Through his lawyer Jackson Awele, the suspended SG said the parties disregarded a directive by Justice Maureen Onyango of the Employment Labour and Relations Court.
“They have also removed Sossion’s name as a signatory to the bank accounts and denied him access to his office,” Awele said.
Otieno’s lawyers urged the court to consider a decision that maintains status quo, saying Sossion’s replacement was done in line with the union’s rules.
Otieno wants to be allowed to continue acting and discharging his mandate as secretary general in the wake of concerns that the union’s operations will be paralysed for lack of signatories.
The judge is expected to deliver a ruling on whether to extend the orders earlier issued to Sossion.
In her ruling on May 4, Onyango restrained Otieno or any other person from acting in the place of Sossion as Knut secretary general.
She barred the Registrar and the TSC from deregistering him as SG .
Sossion says a rogue section of members illegally, irregularly and unlawfully passed a motion to suspend him.