The Central Organization of Trade Unions (Cotu) has called upon President Uhuru Kenyatta to take action the Ministry of Labour who who have reportedly failed to gazette the appointment of Rose Omamo to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) board.
Through a statement, Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli expressed his displeasure with what he termed as disrespect and defiance by the CS for the Ministry of Labour.
According to Atwoli, this act of defiance and contempt, both the Cabinet and Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Labour have disobeyed the President by delegating responsibility to State House.
“It has come to our attention that the Ministry of Labour has blatantly refused to gazette the appointment of Rose Omamo to the NSSF Board as directed by the President on 1st May 2022 during the 57th Labour Day Celebrations,” read part of the statement.
“In no other democracy in the world do presidential appointees, who work at the mercies of the president, behave in the manner in which these two have conducted themselves.” It added.
Additionally, Atwoli said that the Ministry of Labour has embarked on a misinformation campaign whereby they have since changed positions on why they didn’t gazette Omamo as a workers’ representative to the NNS Board.
Previously, the Ministry of Labour’s major argument against the gazettement of Omamo was based on a speculated query on regional balance.
However, after it was established that no region is represented twice, the ministry has since started a new narrative questioning the capacity of Omamo to be in the NSSF Board whilst giving Cotu conditions that are nowhere reflected under the provisions of NSSF Act, 2013.
“Against this new narrative by the Ministry of Labour, Rose Omamo is articulate in all aspects of academic qualifications and equally runs one of the giant unions in Kenya, namely, Amalgamated Union of Kenya Metal Workers which is an affiliate of the Industrial Global Union which represents over 50 million workers globally in 140 countries,” said Atwoli.
According to Atwoli, Omamo is one of the well-versed Kenyans in Industrial Relations practice, more than anyone within the Ministry of Labour, and she’s the workers choice.
“As patriotic Kenyans, we would like to remind the president that he shouldn’t be disrespected by his appointees and that failure to appoint COTU (K)’s nominee as earlier directed warrants for dismissal of the involved officials,” he stated.
PS Peter Tum told a parliamentary committee yesterday that the ministry had forwarded a draft gazette notice on the appointment to Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua for direction.
The President on Sunday ordered Cabinet secretary Simon Chelugui to gazette the appointment of the second Cotu nominee, Omamo, to the NSSF board.
The ministry had declined to approve the appointment of the Cotu nominee since September, triggering court fights and stalling NSSF board meetings.
The ministry yesterday insisted it remained uncomfortable with Omamo’s appointment to the board, adding it had handed a dossier on the nominee, detailing reasons for its opposition, to Kinyua.
Tum told MPs that the ministry had reservations about Omamo’s academic standing, citing her lack of post-secondary school qualifications.
“We have handed a draft gazette notice to the Head of Public Service alongside a dossier explaining that our position has not changed on the nominee qualifications,” Tum said.
“If he approves the gazette notice, we will gazette. The nominee has Form Four qualifications.”