Cotu secretary general Francis Atwoli has said he will vie for an elective seat in 2017 to better address workers’ plight.
Atwoli said other Kenyans are ready to take up the fight for workers’ rights, if the Jubilee administration cannot.
He told MPs Opiyo Wandai, John Mbadi, Mishi Mboko, Oburu Odinga, and Daniel Maanzo that leaders less learned than them effectively represented their constituents in the past.
“You people stand up and help us,” he told the leaders during a rally over the teachers pay hike stalemate, at Uhuru Park, Nairobi county, on Wednesday.
“But if it is difficult, there is a simple solution. I have never aspired to any political office, but let not the elected leadership push Atwoli from where he is to elected leadership.”
Leaders should put more efforts in ensuring workers, who make up their electorate, have better working conditions, he added during the rally jointly organised by Cotu, Knut, Kuppet and TUC-Ke.
Atwoli further accused the government of compromising the country’s economy through corruption.
He added that the trend of increasingly expensive tenders is a contributor to the declining value of the shilling, which he said is one of the reasons Treasury is unable to pay teachers.
Atwoli said TUC-Ke would meet acting Labour CS Raychelle Omamo to express their grievances on the unrest within the workforce.
Source- the-star.co.ke
Atwoli to join politics to address workers’ plight
