BRO. ATWOLI'S ENGAGEMENT IN THE PRE AND POST DECEMBER 2007 ELECTIONS

Tuesday, 18th September, 2007
The Secretary General, Bro. Francis Atwoli, convenes COTU (K) Executive Board and in the afternoon the Board addresses a press conference emphasizing that COTU (K) will remain neutral and impartial in the December Elections.

Monday, 24th December, 2007
Bro. Atwoli addresses a press conference at Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu and calls on both the government and the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) to conduct a free and fair election with acceptable results to Kenyans, saying any move to conduct a flawed election will lead to chaos in the country.

Sunday, 30th December, 2007
Bro. Atwoli appeared in both print and electronic media calling on the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) to halt announcing the results for the presidential elections until all the parties agree.

Wednesday, 2nd January, 2008
Bro. Atwoli addresses a press conference at COTU (K) Headquarters and condemned the spate of violence witnessed across the country and the killing of innnocent Kenyans including children, women and workers. He called on President Mwai Kibaki to immediately initiate a dialogue with the opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Monday, 14th January, 2008
Bro. Francis Atwoli convenes a meeting of COTU (K) officials at COTU (K) Headquarters to deliberae on the way forward for the country in the wake of massive job losses and violence.

Tuesday, 15th January, 2008
Bro. Francis Atwoli convenes COTU (K) Executive Board meeting to chart the way forward for the country and comes up with seven-working points as a guide to solve the political impasse among them meeting both President Mwai Kibaki and Hon. Raila Odinga.

Tuesday, 15th January, 2008
Bro. Francis Atwoli convenes a meeting of all the General Secretaries of COTU (K) affiliate Trade Unions and the meeting mandates the Executive Board to seek audience with President Mwai Kibaki and Hon. Raila Odinga.

Wednesday, 16th January, 2008
Bro. Francis Atwoli addresses a press conference at COTU (K) Headquarters and states that the Executive Board will be holding a meeting with H.E. President Mwai Kibaki and Hon. Raila Odinga with a view to having the two leaders agree on the way to ending the violence.

Friday, 18th January, 2008
Bro. Atwoli leads the entire COTU (K) Executive Board to State House in Nairobi for a meeting with President Kibaki and later in the evening held talks with Hon. Raila Odinga and other ODM Pentagon members at Pentagon House.

Saturday, 19th January, 2008
The COTU (K) officials hold a meeting at COTU (K) headquarters and resolve to form a committee on governance, justice and reconciliation.

Tuesday, 29th January, 2008
Bro. Atwoli addressed a press conference at COTU (K) Headquarters and called for the deployment of Army Officers to clash-torn areas to restore peace and also express dismay at the manner the Police Officers on duty were watching as machetes-wielding gangs terrorized innocent people.

Tuesday, 5th February, 2008
Bro. Atwoli appeared in the local media calling upon the government to treat all the internally displaced persons equally irrespective of their political persuasions.

Friday, 8th February, 2008
Bro. Atwoli issued a press release on plans by COTU(K) to hold a Governing Council Conference to debate on a possible creation of a departure from the existing arrangement of governance and at the same time cautioned political leaders to seriously listen to Koffi Annan led mediation talks.

Friday, 22nd February, 2008
COTU (K) called upon the hardliners among the Koffi Annan's mediation team to be flexible as this is not the time to remain adamant on issues. COTU (K) also called upon the Mediators to shelve their interests and make decisions for the good of this country. Finally COTU (K) called for piecemeal constitutional ammendments to get the country out of this political impasse