NOTU leaders told to stop personalising unions

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Trade unions leaders have been cautioned against running the entities as their personal property. Instead, they have been asked to serve the workers according to the laws of their organisations.

Peter Okello of Okua and Advocates says all bodies or parastatals formed by the Government operate under the law or Acts of Parliament should never be personalised.

Okello was addressing journalists regarding the ruling about the wrongful dismissal of National Organisation of Trade Unions chairman general (NOTU) Usher Wilson Owere at Hotel Africana Kampala on July 11, 2023.

Okello said NOTU is among such organisations that were formed by an Act of Parliament in 1975.

He said NOTU is a public body, which is required to conduct business in accordance with the law following the Constitution of Uganda, NOTU Constitution and the Labour Unions acts.

Okello added that the case that was presented before courts showed that the people who purported the removal of Owere did not follow the laws of Uganda and the Constitution of Uganda that requires that you must give a person a fair hearing before doing moving to dislodge them from office. 

“You must give them a chance to present their case. The Labour Union Act, which guides the union and the constitution of NOTU were not applied in Owere’s case," he said.

Members of National Trade Union celebrate after the election of new leaders at Hotel Africana on November 15, 2022. (All Photos by Wilfred Sanya)

“[When] You call a mob meeting, which is not in the organs of NOTU, that meeting cannot stand to make any decision. The Court was dealing with the question of the procedure and to find out if they followed the law or where they were fair to him in whatever they did,” Okello added.

High Court Judge Musa Ssekaana in his ruling over Owere's dismissal from NOTU on July 7, 2023, said a declaration against Owere dated October 25, 2022, was incompetent, illegal and contravened the Labor Unions Act 2006 and the NOTU Constitution.

"The results of that meeting and alleged change in leadership were, however, rejected by the Registrar of Labour Unions who invited the leaders of NOTU for a meeting to address the looming disagreements," he said.

Owere said the meeting held on November 15, 2022, was illegal since the NOTU Constitution does not provide for an extra ordinary general council meeting and the agenda of the meeting did not provide for the removal from office of the chairman general.

He said what needs to be done is to have unity in NOTU leadership. He appealed to the workers to remain united and continue serving at their places of work.

He thanked the workers for standing with him and was happy with the outcome of the case.