REGISTRAR OF TRADE UNIONS V. NICKY NJUGUNA, STEPHEN M. KYALO, STEPHEN M. KARANO, PAUL GICHERU MARUA & CENTRAL ORGANIZATION OF TRADE UNIONS KENYA

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

On 5^th December, 2002 Nicky Njuguna (1^st respondent) describing himself as Interim-Secretary General of Kenya Police Union, submitted an application for registration of a Police Trade Union under Section 10 of the then Trade Disputes Act. The Registrar of Trade Union took considerable amount of time to communicate the outcome of the said application; but after a series of some back and forth communications, the Registrar finally declined the application for registration of a Police Trade Union vide a letter dated 9^th January 2007. The letter was accompanied by a notification that stated as follows;-

“NOTIFICATION OF REFUSAL OF REGISTRATION

It is hereby notified that the registration of THE KENYA POLICE UNION as a Trade Union under the Trade Unions Act is hereby refused. The grounds for such refusal are as follows;-

Police Officers are not qualified to belong to a trade union under Cap 234 Section 3.

Under Section 29 of Cap 233, you don’t quality to be officials of the…