After staying in the cold for about four years, Seafarers Union of Kenya (SUK) has now been reinstated to the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF).

The union had been suspended from the world body in 2009 following leadership wrangles and reported undemocratic polls that led to protests by local sailors. ITF executive board lifted the suspension in during a meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, recently after the election of new leaders to head the union.

“The union had been suspended following poor leadership contrary to the ITF principles. It was undemocratic with a lot of wrangles,” said an elated new SUK general secretary Andrew Mwangura.

After the lift of the suspension, Mwangura has now been elected vice-chairman of the ITF African seafarers’ section and therefore a member of the ITF executive committee in London.

“I will serve as a member of the ITF executive board for four years and attend global forums on seafarers,” Mwangura, who has been championing seafarers’ welfare in East Africa for about decades, explained.

Mainstreaming of the Kenyan sailors’ union and various reforms in the maritime industry spearheaded by the Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA), including training of maritime personnel, could give local seafarers an opportunity for the competitive international jobs. Mwangura was three months ago elected by local sailors to head the union. He replaced Abubakar Kilwa Omar as general secretary.

In Demark,  Stephen Cotton, the current ITF maritime co-ordinator, was appointed acting general secretary.

Mr David Cockroft, who has been ITF general secretary since 1993, will retire at the end of May 2013, when he reaches age 60. The ITF executive board has 42 members, including the ITF general secretary. In May, Cockroft was in Mombasa to meet KMA officials and representatives of a lobby group of seafarers then headed by Mwangura to push for reforms in the sailors’ union.

The 41 members from affiliated unions are elected to the executive board directly from the regions and, in the case of Europe, North America and Asia/Pacific, from constituencies within the region. Five seats are reserved for women on the executive board. The executive board normally meets twice a year together with its sub-committee the management committee, which has special responsibilities for administrative matters.

The campaign to lift the suspension was started by African ITF maritime affiliates at a meeting held mid last month in Madagascar.

 

 

Source: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke