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Four years into his stint as a senior technician at the now-defunct Kenya Posts & Telecommunications, in 1971, a young Francis Atwoli took on the role of branch secretary for the parastatal’s employees union. It was the start of a journey that would eventually make him the definitive face of Kenya’s labour movement. Just two months ago, in March, he secured his sixth term as general secretary of the Central Organization of Trade Unions, an umbrella body representing over three million workers through 45 affiliate trade unions. He was first elected COTU’s general secretary in 2001.
For reasons including his political pronouncements, boisterous personality, and penchant for rhumba and gold jewellery, Atwoli has become so ingrained in mainstream Kenyan culture and discourse that he has become a meme several times over. It’s easy to forget that the 71-year-old man throwing his iPhone in the middle of a live TV interview while discussing political formations is responsible for advancing workers’ interests in a country where even their Constitutionally-guaranteed rights are constantly trampled upon.
Looking Back
Kenya’s labour movement has always been intertwined with politics. Leaders, including Makhan Singh, Fred Kubai, and Bildad Kaggia, were responsible for the earliest unions in the 1930s–40s – including the Labour Trade Union of Kenya, Transport and Allied Workers Union (TAWU), and Clerks and Commercial Workers Union, respectively. Singh and Kubai worked together to establish the East African Trade Union Congress, with Singh as secretary-general and Kubai as president. Union leaders were often detained and intimidated by colonial authorities who saw them as a political threat.
In 1953, after the colonial British government banned the Kenya African Union (KAU) and arrested leaders, including former President Jomo Kenyatta, the Kenya Federation of Labour (KFL) morphed into a key force in the struggle for Kenya’s independence. These efforts were led by leaders, including the vaunted Tom Mboya, who was himself a beneficiary of a scholarship from the Trade Union Congress for his studies at England’s Ruskin College.
Mboya leveraged his role as general secretary of the KFL to demand African self-rule and connected with influential figures across the world, giving speeches and earning so much admiration that he eventually became the first Kenyan on a Time magazine cover in a portrait painted by Bernard Safran. After the colonial government allowed Africans to run for legislative positions in 1956, Mboya would be elected in Nairobi and went on to be a key influence in the independence government before his tragic assassination in July 1969.
So what changed? The Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) was formed in 1965 following the government’s dissolution of rival labour bodies, ostensibly to institutionalize the labour rights movement and unify workers. The biggest union in the country, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), joined COTU in 1966. But this state-managed consolidation would actually herald the decline of the labour movement and its bargaining power. The consolidation under COTU led to heavy political interference from the then-ruling party Kenya Africa National Union (KANU), and fueled factional battles tied to patronage and ethnic networks.
But the labour movement was yet to reach its lowest. Under Kenya’s second president, Daniel Arap Moi and the repressive one-party state, COTU effectively became subordinate to the government. It was formally incorporated into KANU structures in 1990 snuffing out independent labour action at a time when structural adjustment programs were causing mass layoffs, with tens of thousands retrenched. Union membership numbers cratered.
THE ATWOLI ERA
It wasn’t until the turn of the millennium that KANU’s grip on COTU would be loosened, following pressure from international labour bodies and the US government, which set it as a condition for Kenya to participate in the AGOA export program, allowing African countries duty-free access to the American market. This period coincided with the election of Francis Atwoli as COTU general secretary in 2001. He was the General Secretary of the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union and had also served as COTU’s communications director. His election in 2001 would mark the beginning of a chequered, uninterrupted 25-year run that continues to be the subject of heated debate.
On one hand, COTU under Atwoli has advocated for a number of minimum wage increases over the years, most recently a 6% increase in 2024, Constitutional protections for workers and labour representation in bodies such as the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). But his leadership of COTU has been deeply connected to problematic political figures and organizations, some of whom are responsible for massive corruption and mismanagement of key public services and infrastructure. And as this happens, workers continue to grapple with a lack of responsiveness to their issues – including the cost of living, exploitation by employers, rights violations and a fast-evolving work landscape.
Real wages lag inflation. Workers across the board, from tea plantations in Kericho to factory workers in Nairobi’s Industrial Area, face unabated abuse and exploitation. The minimum wage is a mere suggestion to many employers. Manufacturers and contractors ignore worker safety standards. Workers in the informal sector lack representation. And in 2026, the millions of Kenyans participating in gig work and online services, including ride-hailing, content moderation, creation, and deliveries, cannot look to COTU to protect them.
For instance, Kenya has become a hub for outsourcing firms to underpay and mistreat workers, offering services including AI labelling and content moderation for big tech firms based in the West. COTU has been unable to respond to the evolution of the work landscape to protect workers in all sectors, many of whom are young people.
“We are having to organise ourselves, we have our own groups for delivery riders and ride-hailing boda bodas,” John Asiyo, a Nairobi-based delivery rider, told Africa Uncensored. Bemoaning a lack of effective representation and advocacy for their issues in organizations such as COTU, he explained that they had come up with solutions, including organising themselves through WhatsApp and Telegram groups, and making consistent contributions via mobile money to support advocacy and professionalization.
Teachers have historically formed COTU’s biggest group of members. But for many, their living standards and working conditions remain dire, and the transition to the Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC) has caused new disruptions. Multiple teachers who spoke to Africa Uncensored ahead of Labour Day said they didn’t feel they were effectively represented by COTU.
“Atwoli and COTU have played a role in embedding labour rights in the 2010 Constitution and have increased union membership and visibility. Over time, he has continually pushed for minimum wage increases and representation of workers in national institutions,” said Macharia Chomba, a junior secondary school teacher based in Kirinyaga and member of the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET). “However, many workers still feel unions are not strong enough in pushing real economic change, there is also been limited impact on informal sector workers, and there is the perception that strikes and activism are less aggressive than in earlier decades.”
Chomba cautioned that COTU and Atwoli’s affiliation with political figures and government officials in particular stifled their ability to advocate on various issues. “I believe that this reduces willingness to confront leadership on issues of workers, and shifts focus from workers’ struggles to political influence instead of helping to influence policy and secure representation in national decision-making bodies.”
President William Ruto’s administration has also led a massive push to send Kenyan workers abroad, aiming to have over a million Kenyans leaving the country for work opportunities in regions including the Gulf and Europe. Many of these jobs are domestic work, caregiving, construction, and other menial jobs, and this is in part a response to massive youth unemployment in Kenya. Countless workers in foreign countries, particularly in the Middle East, have faced violence and exploitation. Besides occasional statements calling for strict enforcement of regulations on employment agencies, it often feels like Atwoli, one of President Ruto’s most vocal political supporters, simply can’t offer effective advocacy and demand protections for workers without jeopardising his political relationships.
The Future
The rapid advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) and automation means work as we know it is fundamentally evolving, fast. Coupled with factors including Kenya’s large youth population, the rise of gig work, and the government’s push to export labour, a strong and effective workers’ movement has never been more important. Its role in the struggle for Kenya’s independence also proves that the labour movement can be a catalyst for positive change at a time when the country is yearning for a break from legacy politics and the corruption and ethnic patronage associated with it.
COTU’s rigid structure that has kept one man at the helm for more than two decades is no longer fit for service. But where does change begin? “Joining and actively participating in sector-specific unions is one way for workers, especially young people, to have a bigger say in their future,” says Ian Mwangi, a Nairobi-based economist. “They can demand accountability and find solutions to the challenges facing them.”
Today, informal sector groups are also increasingly organising themselves – for example, through local boda boda rider associations, while gig workers are also forming associations of their own, such as the Digital Boda Drivers and Deliveries Association of Kenya (DBDDAK). The emergence of vibrant new unions in Kenya means that the labour rights movement in Kenya is still well and truly alive despite mounting challenges for workers.
Atwoli was yet to respond to queries from Africa Uncensored by the time of publication.
