Atwoli battles in court for re-appointment to NSSF board

COTU Secretary-General Francis Atwoli has moved to court seeking to have Labour Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani compelled to appoint and gazette him as a member of the National Social Secrity Fund (NSSF).

Atwoli claims that the Cabinet Secretary for Labour and Social Protection has failed to re-appoint and gazette him to NSSF Board as a trustee.

In a court application, Atwoli says that this is not the first time the Cabinet Secretary has “failed, refused and/or neglected” to appoint and gazette him to the NSSF board.

The COTU boss argues that the Labour CS has no power to refuse, neglect or fail to re-appoint him.

‘The purported failure to re-appoint and gazette the nominee of the Ex-Parte Applicant is riddled with illegality laced with malice and bad faith and is tailored to achieve an unlawful and illegal state of affairs which is wholly incompatible with the provisions of the NSSF Act, 2013 and the Constitution of Kenya 2010,” reads court documents.

In the application filed at the Employment and Labour Relations Court, COTU is seeking orders restraining the CS and NSSF from convening any Board meeting pending the re-appointment and gazetting of Atwoli to the Board.

Atwoli claims that the current officials of the NSSF Board are likely to transact business without COTU’S representative, adding that this will be unlawful and highly prejudicial as COTU is of the largest contributors to the fund through its members.

It is Atwoli’s argument that the Board will continue to meet as they have been meeting to consider various issues such as financial reports, approval of major projects, job advertisements, interviews and appointment of the general managers of the various departments without his input contrary to the provisions of section 11(2) of the NSSF Act.

In his affidavit, Atwoli says that on August 13, 2018, NSSF Chairman Rajab Mwondu wrote a letter to the Ministry drawing his attention to the need to re-appoint him (Atwoli) as COTU’s nominee to the NSSF Board.

He argues that refusal or failure to re-appoint and gazette him is a gross violation of his fundamental Constitutional rights and freedoms.

Atwoli says that there are no valid grounds upon which the Ministry has failed to re-appoint and gazette him.

The case has been certified as urgent with the hearing set for Monday, October 22.