Africa-Press – Uganda. The secretary general of the National Organisation of Trade Unions (NOTU), Mr Christopher Peter Werikhe, has gone to the High Court in Kampala, seeking to block the intended move to have him removed from office.
According to court documents filed by Mr Werikhe on April 7, he contends that his bosses, including NOTU chairman Wilson Owere, want to throw him out of office for having participated in the just concluded General Election.
Mr Werikhe is the MP-elect for Bubulo West in Manafwa District but he states that his bosses wanted him to resign first before joining politics.He is also accused of not resigning from his position as a member of the board of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), which his superiors say he should have done 90 days prior to his nomination.
Also sued is the National Union of Theatrical, Domestic and General Workers (NUTDOW).“The defendants (Mr Owere and Nutdow), do not have locus to demand for the resignation of the plaintiff (Mr Werikhe) from office of secretary general of NOTU and to relinquish his trusteeship on the board of the directors, NSSF,” reads in part the court documents.
Mr Werikhe further contends that in September last year, he took his annual leave and appointed Mr Tom Amiti as acting NOTU secretary general.He, however, states that while on leave, NUTDOW instructed its lawyers, who wrote to him, demanding that he resigns from holding the said position unlawfully.
Not happy
“The letter alleged, among other things, his desertion of NOTU, resulting in its members suffering, being disadvantaged and ridiculed,” court documents read in part
Adding: “The plaintiff (Mr Werikhe) also offered himself to be elected as MP on a partisan ticket in contravention of the NOTU constitution. ”Mr Werikhe now avers that the contents of the letter authored by NUTDOW have since defamed him for allegedly portraying him as someone who lacks integrity and impropriety in the conduct of public affairs.
Through his lawyers of Mungoma, Mabonga, Wakhakha & Co. Advocates, Mr Werikhe wants court to declare that national and local political activities are part and parcel of the activities of NOTU and that even Mr Owere participated in the said elections but lost.
He also wants court to declare that Mr Owere in his capacity as the chairman of NOTU, doesn’t have the mandate to require him to vacate the office of the secretary general and trusteeship and board membership of NSSF.
By press time, court had not summoned Mr Owere and group to file their defence before a hearing date could be set.
