A legal challenge has been filed at the High Court in Kerugoya seeking to overturn the recent re-election of Francis Atwoli as the Secretary-General of the Central Organization of Trade Unions in Kenya (COTU-K).
The petition raises concerns about how the elections were conducted and argues that the process did not follow the proper legal and constitutional procedures required for trade union leadership contests.
The case was presented by the Centre for Public Policy and Research, a civil society organization that says the March 14, 2026 election did not comply with the established electoral framework.
The polls were held at the Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu, where Atwoli was declared the winner and retained his position as the long-serving leader of the workers’ umbrella body.In the petition, the organization named several government and institutional offices as respondents in the matter.
Those sued include the Cabinet Secretary for Labour and Social Protection, the Registrar of Trade Unions, COTU-K, and the Attorney General.
A number of trade unions and union officials have also been listed as interested parties in the case.
Court documents indicate that the petitioner believes the elections were conducted earlier than allowed under the official electoral timetable issued by the Registrar of Trade Unions in September 2025.
According to that schedule, branch-level elections in affiliated unions were to take place between January 5 and March 31, 2026.
After that stage, national elections for the unions were to run between April 1 and June 30. The timetable further stated that elections for COTU-K leadership were expected to conclude by August 30.
However, the petition argues that the COTU-K vote held on March 14 took place before the required processes within the affiliated unions had been completed.
The Centre for Public Policy and Research claims that this undermined the legal structure that governs trade union elections in the country.
The petitioner explained that union elections are expected to follow a structured system that begins with ordinary members electing their leaders at the branch level.
Those branch leaders then serve as delegates who participate in national union elections.
Eventually, delegates from the various unions take part in electing leaders at the COTU-K level.
According to the filing, this democratic chain ensures accountability and representation from the grassroots level to the national leadership.
The organization told the court that this process was interrupted in the case of the March 14 election.
It alleged that several major unions had not completed their branch elections when the COTU-K leadership vote was conducted.
Among the unions mentioned were the Kenya National Union of Teachers, the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers, and the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union.
Because these unions had not finished their internal elections, the petitioner argued that they could not have produced properly elected delegates to take part in the COTU-K polls.
As a result, the organization claims that the election lacked legitimate representation from affiliated unions.
The petition also lists a number of procedural issues that it says affected the credibility of the election. These include allegations that membership registers were not properly updated and that there was no independent body overseeing the electoral process.
The petitioner further claims that the nomination process lacked transparency.
According to the documents filed in court, no voters’ register was made public before the election took place. It is also alleged that election observers were not accredited to monitor the process. In addition, the petition claims that voting centres were not clearly identified or communicated to union members ahead of the polls.
The Centre for Public Policy and Research argues that these gaps made the process unclear and raised questions about whether the election met the standards expected of a fair and credible vote.
In its application, the organization claims that the election violated several constitutional principles. These include provisions related to national values, equality, access to information, fair labour practices, and fair administrative action.
The petitioner says union members were denied an opportunity to participate in a transparent and lawful election.
Through the case, the organization is asking the High Court to nullify the March 14 election results and stop the Registrar of Trade Unions from formally recognizing them. It is also seeking a declaration that the entire election process was unconstitutional and invalid from the beginning.
The Kerugoya petition is not the only legal challenge surrounding the matter. Two other petitions raising similar concerns about the election have also been filed in Nairobi courts, indicating that the dispute over the COTU-K leadership contest may now be settled through the judicial process.
