NAIROBI, Kenya — Francis Atwoli has secured a major legal reprieve after the Employment and Labour Relations Court struck out a petition challenging his re-election as Secretary-General of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU-K).
Justice Jemimah Keli ruled on Thursday that the court lacked jurisdiction to determine a petition filed by Fazul Mahamed and the Institute for Democratic Governance challenging the March 14, 2026 COTU elections.
Atwoli was re-elected unopposed for a sixth term during COTU’s 15th Quinquennial Governing Council Delegates Conference held at Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu.
Petitioners challenged COTU election process
The petitioners had sought to challenge the validity of the election, arguing that the COTU polls were conducted before affiliated trade unions had completed their own electoral processes.
They argued that this was contrary to the sequence provided under Section 34 of the Labour Relations Act.
According to the petitioners, the electoral process should begin with branch-level elections, followed by national elections within individual unions before the umbrella organisation conducts its own leadership elections.
The challenge therefore questioned whether COTU’s March 14 election was conducted in accordance with the law and the required electoral sequence.
Justice Keli, however, ruled that the court could not determine the matter on jurisdictional grounds, effectively ending the petition before the substantive allegations against the election could be determined.
Second legal challenge over Atwoli election
Thursday’s decision follows another legal battle over the same COTU elections.
In June, High Court Justice William Musyoka declined to hear a separate petition seeking to invalidate the March 14 elections, holding that disputes concerning trade union elections fall within the jurisdiction of the Employment and Labour Relations Court.
The earlier case was filed by the Centre for Public Policy and Research, which challenged the COTU elections over alleged breaches of a timetable issued by the Registrar of Trade Unions.
COTU and other parties, including Atwoli, the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), opposed the petition.
They argued that the dispute belonged before the specialised labour court rather than the High Court.
Justice Musyoka subsequently directed that the matter be placed before the Employment and Labour Relations Court, where a related petition was already pending.
Atwoli begins sixth term
Atwoli’s re-election took place during COTU’s delegates conference in Kisumu in March, where he was returned unopposed.
He first became COTU Secretary-General in 2001 and has remained at the helm of Kenya’s largest umbrella workers’ organisation for nearly three decades.
His latest election marks his sixth term in office, further cementing his position as one of Kenya’s longest-serving trade union leaders.
The legal challenges had threatened to reopen questions surrounding the legitimacy of the election process, but Thursday’s ruling gives Atwoli and COTU a significant boost.
The decision also reinforces the role of the Employment and Labour Relations Court as the specialised forum for disputes arising from trade union elections.
For Atwoli, the ruling allows his sixth term to proceed without the latest petition challenging the election being heard on its substantive merits, although any other legally permissible challenges could still depend on the applicable procedures and timelines.
