By Adongo Ogony April 17, 2024
Atwoli Wants PSRA Boss Fazul Arrested, Prosecuted For Allegedly Forging Academic Certificates
Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary General Francis Atwoli has called for the resignation and subsequent prosecution of Private Security Regulatory Authority (PSRA) Director General Fazul Mahamed over claims of forging his academic credentials to secure government employment.
This comes after Mahamed on Monday directed private security companies to stop deducting and remitting security officers’ fees to COTU, citing the union’s alleged failure to advocate for the rights of private security officers in Kenya despite receiving monthly contributions from them.
Mahamed, in the directive that caused him to butt heads with Atwoli, also threatened the revocation of licenses for security firms that would not adhere to the order.
In a Tuesday rejoinder, Atwoli questioned Mahamed’s credentials citing 2016 reports from the EACC and the Office of the Ombudsman which reportedly declared him as unqualified for public office having allegedly falsified a degree from Egerton University.
“At this point, COTU (K) urges the ODPP to expedite the prosecution of Fazul due to his alleged criminal activities, which led to his appointment as CEO of the NGO Board. If the ODPP fails to prosecute Fazul promptly, despite the evidence of his criminal activities, COTU (K) will engage a private prosecutor to protect Kenyan workers from this individual,” said Atwoli.
“Considering the lack of purpose and direction by Fazul, at the helm of PSRA, it might be prudent for him to resign so that the body finds a competent person who understands the role(s) of a regulator.”
Additionally, Atwoli faulted Mahamed for what he termed as meddling in the affairs of the Kenya National Private Security Workers Union (KNPSWU), Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and the Federation of Kenyan Employers (FKE).
“In a manner to profess his megalomaniac character, Fazul has christened himself as the Employer, Regulator, and Union, at the same time. Without a doubt, the path Fazul has taken can only come to a tragic end following his Hyena-like Dilemma,” stated the COTU boss.
“It must be remembered that COTU is a free and independent trade union that is neither regulated by Private Security Regulatory Authority nor any other government agency. As such the demands contained in the letter by PSRA can only be made by the union members and/or the respective union.”
Atwoli further labelled PSRA, under Mahamed’s stewardship, as the greatest impediment to the enhancement of the rights and welfare of private security firms in Kenya.
“COTU has received numerous complaints on the same through our affiliate union, Kenya National Private Security Workers Union. PSRA has, for long, stood against the many reforms proposed by COTU (K) towards enhanced welfare of the Private Security Workers,” said Atwoli.
The COTU boss also highlighted the legal framework under which union dues are collected from PRSA.
“The union dues COTU (K) receives from Private Security Workers, through their Union’s Affiliation to COTU (K), is as a consequence of a Gazette Notice by the Ministry of Labour, dated 2nd September 2016, considering the labour laws and the requirements of the constitution of COTU,” he noted.
Francis Atwoli has been the most useless COTU and labour union leader ever in the history of the country. Right now he has been COTU Secretary General for more than twenty years making millions every month in payments and benefits and living large and never doing anything for Kenyan workers.
The flamboyant COTU boss owns various mansions which accentuate his opulence.
An article by The Standard in 2018, the labour leader owns multi-million houses in Nairobi, Nakuru and Ildamat in Kajiado county, adding to his posh rural home in Kakamega.
Photos of Atwoli’s IIbisil home in Kajiado were first publicized in August 2016 when the Cotu boss hosted all delegates attending the 10th EATUC Summit at his home.
Set on the scenic planes that could pass for a canvass painting, the Kajiado mansion is Atwoli’s latest chill spot.
Speaking during a past interview, Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria once described the COTU boss’s home as therapeutic, with its manicured lawns, perfectly trimmed hedges and as well as its pristine location.
However, Atwoli maintains that he is among the few leaders who have toiled for decades to attain his vast wealth.
The worker’s boss famed for driving a Mercedes Benz-s300 model, once claimed that he pays for his cars by instalments and only brings them home after the last payment, for fear that his well-connected haters could order banks to repossess them.
Here are a few more photos of Atwoli’s Kajiado home:
And this super rich crook, Francis Atwoli, is supposed to be the leader of Kenyan workers. Is it any wonder Kenyans workers are going nowhere with their needs and have no hope. Get Atwoli out of there and do it quick.
At a time of great crisis in the Kenyan workforce with one of the most important unions in the country KMPDU on strike, Atwoli has nothing to offer them or even pretend to defend them. Atwoli is working with President Ruto now and the doctors and healthcare providers can go to hell as far as he is concerned and everybody can go get healthcare in Dubai like him and Ruto. What a shame for a trade union leader.
And who in Kenya really cares if these Ruto guys have university degrees. They can keep their nothing education because nobody cares. Dumb is Dumb.
At some point Kenyans had leaders like these in their workers unions.
Death of Dennis Akumu Former COTU-K & OATTU Secretary General
It is with great sadness that the Central Organisation of Trade Unions, COTU (K) announces the passing on of a veteran politician and former Trade Union leader both in Kenya and on the entire African Continent Brother Dennis Akumu.
DP Gachagua Claims He Has List Of Senior Gov’t Officials With ‘River Road Degrees’
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has claimed to know the people who issue fake academic certificates at River Road and some of the senior government officials who have benefitted from the illegal trade.
Gachagua, who spoke on Wednesday during the third National Wage Bill Conference at the Bomas of Kenya, divulged that some cartels in the business of issuing fake academic documents had approached him as a potential client.
He said the unnamed individuals revealed to him that they had been of service to many government officials who needed the fake papers to secure employment in public service on a whim.
These officials, the DP noted, are very well known to his boss, President William Ruto, and he is willing to expose them to him.
“Many people in the government, Governors, heads of department, even some who are sitting here with you, most of them their papers ziko na dosari,” he told the President.
“These people of River Road have been looking for me saying why are you, the deputy president, complaining? Tumesaidia wengi, tumesaidia fulani, fulani na fulani…I will give you the list which I was given of the people who have been helped.”
While insisting that he had always turned down the offers, Gachagua however cited his current educational background, reiterating that he feels lonely as most fellow senior government officials including President Ruto have more than one degree and higher education qualifications.
Nonetheless, he reaffirmed that he is content with his level of education, and that’s why he was adamant about taking the shortcut.
“When I have been complaining that I am feeling lonely at the top because my boss has three degrees, Controller of State House also three, and I have one,” Gachagua noted.
“As for me, I don’t care much about papers, because I don’t want to go to River Road; I am satisfied with the little I have.”
The DP thus expressed his commitment to the fight against fake academic certificates, urging his boss to step up and make hard decisions to root out all culprits in the public sector.
According to the DP, the number of people with forged documents in government goes to thousands and if weeded out, may save the country billions amid the ballooning wage bill debate.
“This issue of fake certificates, I think it is a quick win for us; if we make a decision to get rid of all the fellows and characters with fake certificates, probably we could knock 10,000 people from the wage bill and recover a billion or two,” he noted.
“In this matter of fake certificates, make hard decisions which will be beneficial to this country and it will form part of your legacy.”
Gachagua at the same time recalled the 2022 presidential race where President Ruto was selecting a running mate and it came down to himself and Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof. Kithure Kindiki as the last two candidates.
He joked how some people were advising him to forge even a single Master’s degrees to match up to his rival at the time, Prof. Kindiki, who many people had purported to be the favourite candidate due to his education qualification.
Gachagua lightly said he turned a deaf ear to the requests and instead, during his interview, assured President Ruto of his commitment to help him in moving the country forward if picked despite his academic status.
“As you were looking for a running mate and it was me and Prof Kindiki who were on the final shortlist, and my supporters were feeling probably I could be disadvantaged because Kindiki was at the top…A lot of my supporters were calling me telling me tunaeza panga haraka haraka ata kama ni ka Masters utafutiwe ndio ufike pale,” Gachagua explained.
“When you called me to the interview and asked me about my education qualification, I said I had one degree and you asked ata Master’s hauna? I said just accept me the way I am and I will struggle in the future.”
For me I don’t care about academic qualifications for politicians and state officials. If you are Ruto, Gachagua, Atwoli or anybody in that government all you have to do is steal public money from Kenyans. Do you need a university degree to do that? No you don’t. That is what Kenyans have to deal with.
I was talking to my niece on Friday last week. She graduated as a nurse last year. It was so hard to get her through the nursing Medical Training School and we had to pay so much tuition money. It was me and her brother who is a pharmacist in Nairobi and of course her mom in Uyoma. And we just said we have to get her through from 2020 to 2024. Now she is done. She is a Registered Nurse in Kenya.
She called and she asked me if she can apply for the nursing jobs for Kenyans in Saudi Arabia that are being promoted by the Ruto government. I was too scared to answer her. I told her I will talk with her good friend who is my son.
Kenyan Nurses: How To Apply for 2500 Jobs in Saudi Arabia.. Qualifications and Salaries
So I told the young man his cousin whom he knows very well wants to go to Saudi Arabia and work as a nurse there after she graduated from Medical School.
The boy told me no way and he is going to deal with the issue himself. He told me Kenyans get killed in Saudi Arabia. No way he was letting his cousin go there. So I said fine they talk about it by themselves.
They are good friends so they will talk and sort it out. They are grown ups and they can deal with it.
My other niece who is the sister to this nurse is a teacher. My son and and her have a good story. The boy gives her his suitcase when she was going to Maseno University. Then I tell her if she doesn’t make it she has to give back the suitcase. She graduates and becomes a teacher and asks me if I want the suitcase back. She is now a teacher in South Nyanza. Her mother and me laugh about these things.
And then K and his so many cousins they told me to leave them alone because they are going to figure it out.
The Real Deal 