Wamuzi News Ke
In a move that has never been seen before and which is likely to result in a complete change of the labor movement in Kenya, the general secretaries of 42 trade unions have unanimously voted to endorse Francis Atwoli as the Secretary General of the Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) for another 25 years, thus making him their choice for the 25th time in succession.
This powerful event was made known on Tuesday during a top-level meeting in Nairobi and emphasized Atwoli’s lasting control over the largest workers’ organization in Kenya.
Atwoli, who is already one of Kenya’s longest-serving union leaders, organized the luncheon for the coalition of union heads, where they stated their complete backing for his candidacy in the COTU elections that are to take place in August 2026.
The endorsement of Atwoli’s candidacy, due to the absence of any public dissent among the affiliates, represents a very rare instance of solidarity in a movement that is regularly divided by regional and sectoral interests.
The endorsement is very significant: it is a quarter-century at the top of COTU leadership—something never achieved in the history of Kenyan labor—and it is also proof of Atwoli’s influence in worker representation, policy mediation, and national labor policy dialogue for the last decades.
His leadership has gone through the changes of political administrations and economic cycles, and his being a figure of both union and national politics has been strengthened.
Atwoli’s confirmation of the endorsement was through a straight and forthright statement. He expressed his intention to lead “as a united team in solidarity” into the upcoming election cycle and characterized the support as an endorsement of his vision for the strengthening of collective bargaining and ongoing defense of workers’ rights.
The COTU position has often cut across the wider national policy discussions, such as minimum wage negotiations, social protection frameworks, and industrial action. This news reverberates throughout the labor and political circles where COTU’s stance has often intersected with national policy debates.
With Atwoli ready to further extend his term, analysts foresee increased monitoring of how COTU manages to ride along with the political alliances and economic forces by being loyal to its members.
A global beyond Kenyan at this moment already counts Atwoli as an international labor heavyweight who has been elected again to be the Deputy President of the Commonwealth Trade Union Group (CTUG), which speaks for millions of workers in the countries that are unionized.
Although the COTU electoral process is formally expected to begin later this year, the endorsement has already changed the expectations of the upcoming process. The endorsement has also shown that one of COTU’s most critical votes ever will see Atwoli’s firm leadership as well as the issue of generational change in the labor movement in Kenya as a challenge.
