Dock workers union secretary general Simon Sang during a conference held at the Bandari College Hall. [Photo/ Victor Wanaswa]
Chaos rocked a Dock Workers Union meeting for the second time as secretary general Simon Sang sought to have three top officials expelled. There was push and shove as police officers guarded Sang amid commotion during a special conference held at the Bandari College hall in Mombasa.Sang, however, softened his earlier stand of sacking the three, Mohamed Sheria (chairman), Gunda Kaneno (vice-chair) and treasurer Joseph Makero and instead said he would call in an international arbiter to reconcile the two warring factions. Sang said he would call in experts from the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) to reconcile his team and its rival side led by Sheria.Sang had earlier accused the three of misconduct and incompetence as well as “leaking union secrets to the employer - Kenya Ports Authority (KPA). “For the sake of unity in the union, we have decided to call an arbitration team from the ITF to end the dispute. We expect the arbiter to complete the work in the next three months,” said Sang.On October 7, chaos erupted at a meeting at the Mbaraki KPA sports in Mombasa forcing Sang to call it off. Sheria and his team have however dismissed Sang as “a dictator and a coward” for denying them a chance to address the meeting. “The meeting it not meet the union quorum of 900 because there were only 350 members. Sang showed dictatorship by denying the people he has accused a chance to defend ourselves as the rule on natural justice demands. Whatever he said is not binding,” said Sheria.Sang and the union’s executive committee member Victor Aduda who was master of ceremony were the only people who addressed the chaotic meeting. Aduda explained that Sheria and Makero could not be allowed to speak since their positions have been disputed following their suspension several months ago. The union, which has a membership of 4,800 had gathered to decide the fate of three suspended national officials.On his part, Gunda said any arbitration committee must be agreed upon by both parties in the dispute and not controlled by Sang secretary general. “If Sang wants to end this dispute, he must observe fairness. We must be involved in the setting up of any dispute resolution committee,” said Gunda.Regarding corruption claims by Sheria’s team, Sang said the union has established an internal audit department to ensure accounts and recurrent budgets are properly checked more frequently. Sheria’s team has questioned an alleged irregular withdrawal of Sh5 million from Bandari Sacco account and payment of Sh77,000 monthly gratuity to Sang before completion of his five-year term. The Sheria team also argued Sh250,000 was irregularly withdrawn from the union account and another 100,000 was being paid monthly for legal services that did not exist in Nairobi. Sang has dismissed all allegations saying that all expenditure has been duly approved by the relevant committee. “The union board decided to pay my gratuity every end month instead of accumulating the funds to the end of the term,” he explained.