VZCZCXYZ0002
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNR #2348/01 1500311
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 300311Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2035
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 3934

UNCLAS NAIROBI 002348 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR AF/E, AF/RSA, EB/TPP/MTA, AND DRL/IL 
DEPT ALSO PASS TO USTR FOR BILL JACKSON 
DEPT ALSO PASS TO LABOR FOR ROB SHEPERD AND JIM SHEA 
GENEVA FOR JOHN CHAMBERLIN 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EINV ECON ETRD PHUM KE
SUBJECT: COTU Convention Generates Plenty of Public 
Posturing 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  FOR USG USE ONLY. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Central Organization of Trade Unions 
- Kenya (COTU) election convention was unusually calm and 
well-organized, partially because there was no challenger 
to Secretary General Francis Atwoli and his Executive 
Board.  Presidential contender and local hero MP Raila 
Odinga delivered a pro-market message not normally welcomed 
by unions, but he nonetheless received a big ovation and 
was characterized as the opposition leader most supportive 
of labor.  Labor Minister Kulundu and Justice Minister 
Martha Karua endorsed Atwoli and used the opportunity to 
spout populist and anti-business themes.  While their 
remarks pleased the union leaders and generated headlines, 
they probably do not constitute a shift in GOK economic 
policy.  End Summary. 
 
 
Once Every Five Years, Labor Votes 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) COTU invited the Regional Labor Attache to attend 
and address the May 20, 2006 election convention held at 
Tom Mboya Labor College in Kisumu, Kenya.  Kenyan labor law 
requires all unions and the Federation to hold elections 
every five years.  Although the Registrar of Trade Unions 
set a September deadline, Atwoli ordered all COTU-member 
unions to hold their elections before May 20 so that the 
COTU delegation to the June ILO Conference in Geneva would 
have a fresh mandate.  COTU SG Atwoli had worked to ensure 
he and his Executive Board faced no challengers, but he 
still invited a strong lineup of regional African labor 
leaders to extol his work over the last five years and 
endorse his run for another term.  Participants told Labor 
Attache this Convention was much calmer and better 
organized than previous ones because Atwoli had 
orchestrated it so well. 
 
Atwoli Runs Hard for Another Term 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) In his speech, Atwoli welcomed the democratic space 
provided by the NARC Administration and its sympathy for 
labor, as demonstrated by President Kibaki's participation 
in May 1 labor day events.  Atwoli stressed that workers 
are a key element to economic growth and development.  He 
claimed to have restored local, regional and international 
respect for COTU by restructuring the organization, 
revitalizing membership and commitment, remaining 
independent, respecting trilateralism, and speaking out 
fearlessly on labor issues.  He enumerated his leading role 
in labor organizations like ICFTU-AFRO, the Organization of 
African Unions, the East African Trade Union Confederation 
and the ILO.  He boasted of his freedom to comment on any 
issue affecting workers, and pledged to sacrifice his life 
if necessary.  Atwoli openly acknowledged that his Board 
members and advisors are tribally balanced to ensure 
representation of views. 
 
Opposition Leader Odinga Supports Open Economy 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶4. (U) Orange Democratic Movement opposition leader and 
presidential contender Raila Odinga got a big ovation when 
Atwoli characterized him as the opposition leader most 
supportive of labor.  Odinga commended labor's commitment 
to democracy, welcomed COTU's opposition to the draft 
Constitution in the November referendum, and claimed Kenya 
could do better than the NARC Administration.  He said that 
unions remain relevant in the globalized economy, but need 
to focus attention on increasing productivity and 
attracting investment to create more jobs.  Workers and 
producers both face high costs of living and production, 
and should cooperate to reduce both.  Odinga recommended 
open markets, raising standards for quality, and 
diversifying the economy as ways to attract both local and 
foreign investment, grow the economy and fight poverty.  He 
called for unions to think outside the box, educate and 
train members, focus on new economy sectors like ICT and e- 
commerce, and seek agents of change.  Minister of State for 
Public Service Moses Akaranga made similar market-oriented 
points, stressing the importance of reforming the public 
service and providing in-service training to expose them to 
modern industrial relations. 
 
 
Ministers Pledge Support for Workers 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶5. (U) In their speeches, Labor and Human Resource 
Development Minister Newton Kulundu, and Justice and 
Constitutional Affairs Minister Martha Karua, extolled 
Atwoli's performance in Kenya.  They noted the peaceful 
industrial relations, his cooperation with the NARC 
government, and his willingness to criticize government 
agencies, parastatals and private companies to stand up for 
workers' interests.  Both pledged the government's 
commitment to passing the five labor reform bills.  Kulundu 
said he had delayed presenting the labor reform laws to the 
Cabinet because they did not provide deterrent penalties 
for violations.  He promised to work with Justice Minister 
Karua to revise the bills and then submit them to 
Parliament, to which Karua concurred.  Kulundu committed to 
improving workers' access to redress by posting Industrial 
Court Judges in provincial locations, to fighting child 
labor, and to improving the performance of the National 
Social Security Foundation. 
 
¶6. (U) Justice Minister Karua congratulated Kenya's labor 
unions for holding democratic elections and addressing 
conditions of employment and social issues that affect 
their members.  She acknowledged that working conditions 
were still sub-standard, especially in the Export 
Processing Zones (EPZ) and agriculture.  Karua pled the 
government was doing the best it could, and pledged to 
respond to workers issues.  She called on unions to work 
with employers and government to raise and address issues. 
However, she also warned that investors must strike a 
balance between profits and paying a salary sufficient to 
prevent degradation, poor living conditions and bad health 
for workers. 
 
Ministers Posture for Unions and Press 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) Echoing the May Day speeches by President Kibaki and 
Francis Atwoli, Akaranga and Kulundu criticized tea 
plantation owners for expanding the use of mechanical tea 
picking machines to replace workers.  Kulundu said he and 
the President had warned the tea plantation owners it was 
unacceptable for them to use mechanical pickers to replace 
70,000 workers.  "We cannot see workers enslaved by foreign 
companies who have a social responsibility to keep 
workers...  If the companies threaten to leave, we will 
find another use for this Kenyan land."  Karua called for 
the unions to demand respect for workers, end impunity for 
investors, and report insults to "indigenous Kenyans."  She 
concluded by claiming that development partners' only goals 
were to obtain export markets and access to cheap labor in 
the EPZs, and that Kenya had to stand up for itself and 
bargain harder to develop fully. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Kenyan unions are not known for their transparency 
and democracy, but most of the union elections were 
contested.  Union leaders report there was significant 
turnover among the leadership at the branch level, and 
challengers defeated some incumbent national union leaders. 
Atwoli, however, had worked energetically to convince union 
officials that he and his team were doing a good job and 
were the best available.  Some factions of trade unions may 
file protests against the COTU election with the Registrar 
of Trade Unions, but they seem unlikely to overturn the 
results and require a new election. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Atwoli has maintained good relations with 
President Kibaki and the NARC government by avoiding 
strikes and industrial tensions, praising the government's 
support for democracy, and minimizing the Anglo-Leasing 
mega-corruption scandal as partisan politics.  However, he 
sided with the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) 
in opposing the government's draft Constitution because it 
would have required labor's candidates for appointed 
positions to run as candidates for a registered party, 
rather than as a unified labor slate.  Atwoli has emotively 
criticized parastatals for plans to cut back workforce, and 
foreign firms for mistreating Kenyan workers.  However, 
 
some argue he sides too often with employers to ignore 
worker complaints, perhaps benefiting financially.  When 
NGOs, some led by former COTU or union officials, led 
initiatives to highlight problematic working conditions, 
such as sexual harassment on flower farms, Atwoli objected, 
clearly resenting the implied criticism of his failure to 
address the issue. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The Ministers' and MP's comments about the 
importance of economic productivity, investment and 
developing human resources contrasted oddly with their 
flagrant posturing for the labor audience on the threat 
posed by foreign firms, with their mechanized tea pickers 
and alleged verbal abuse of workers.  The threats against 
investors got the headlines, but they do not appear to 
indicate any change in Kenya's economic or investment 
policies.  However, Minister Karua's call for Kenya to 
stand up to donor conditionality does appear to be part of 
a developing GOK attitude of defiance towards Western 
donors. END COMMENT. 
 
BELLAMY