Wilson Sossion: Indefatigable unionist stood firm against state

“We shall strike and strike and strike and strike until the Kazungus and Kaimenyis of this world see sense.”

Wilson Sossion, then-chairman of the Kenya National Union of Teachers, was daring Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi and Labour's Kazungu Kambi to a duel in 2012.

The national exams were around the corner and Sossion had led the union on a strike to demand better pay for teachers. 

The brash, assertive and straight-talking chairman was refashioning the role, and perhaps angling for the post of secretary general that he would occupy in 2013. 

A unionist since 2001, when he was elected to represent Bomet in Knut, Sossion battled five education ministers and emerged victorious almost every time. 

Once at the helm of Knut, Sossion duelled with Sam Ongeri, Mutula Kilonzo, Kaimenyi, Fred Matiang'i  and George Magoha. None of them could match his forceful, articulate speeches. He fought tooth and nail for teachers. 

For his bravado, Sossion left the union on June 25 in tears. With him as he announced his retirement from Knut was his wife and two children. 

None of his comrades with whom he sang "Solidarity forever!" on numerous occasions was by his side. He bowed out whimpering.  

Sossion said the move was for the good of Knut’s continuity and membership, whose dues have been held by the state for two years, and for himself.

He served the union for more than a decade, three years as chairman and nine as secretary-general, having risen from a branch executive secretary. 

Sossion said the resignation closes his “greatest chapter" in the formal representation of Kenyan teachers.

Resigning a day before Knut’s national elections, he said the government had frustrated his leadership as he fought for the well-being of teachers.

He had run-ins with the government, particularly the Teachers Service Commission.

Since the battle between Knut and the TSC began in 2018, the membership of the union has shrunk from a high of 187,000 to less than 20,000 in January this year. TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia effectively cracked Knut.

Sossion's tenure was characterised by many teachers' strikes to push for better pay and working conditions, including the longest ever in 2015 between September and October.

"I think I have outgrown Knut and I think I should move fully into the political world,” he said.

He was in 2017 nominated to Parliament by ODM, becoming the first Knut secretary-general to join the House.

The nomination escalated the already strained relations between him and TSC, which started the process of deregistering him.

When he fought back, the commission went for Knut, refusing to remit members' union dues.

It also cancelled the union’s recognition agreement in 2019 and stalled promotion for Knut members.

This frustrated members, who on August 2019 started a push to remove Sossion as Knut boss. TSC was blamed for Sossion's ouster bid.

He had told teachers to skip the CBC training, saying they were not consulted. Sossion also opposed the delocalisation of teachers.

Born in 1969, Sossion trained as a teacher at Egerton University between 1989-92. He describes himself as “an outstanding actor” at the Njoro campus.

He graduated with a Bachelor’s of Education in Sciences. He holds another degree from Kenyatta University in Chemistry and Biology.

He said he is obsessed with success and his driving force is the desire and commitment to achieve.

After teaching in various schools in the Rift Valley, he left the classroom in 2001 to join the labour movement. He became Bomet Branch executive secretary at the age of 32 years.

The father of three, Sossion lost his first wife in 2010 in a road accident and later re-married in April 2016.

Collins Oyuu, who was Sossion’s rival, now takes over. Will he succeed where Sossion failed? 

For Sossion, he will be preparing for Bomet Central constituency and is convinced he will be in the 13th Parliament.