By The Weekly Vision Reporter
Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary-General Collins Oyuu has publicly endorsed President William Ruto’s bid for a second term in the 2027 General Election, declaring that he will lead teachers in supporting the incumbent. Speaking in Bomet County on Saturday, Oyuu was unambiguous. “For me, I don’t have any apology to anybody. I’m totally two-term, and I’m facing the cameras here. That is what I am. I cannot hide it,” he said. He rooted the decision in KNUT’s long-standing policy of working with the government of the day.
He pointed to concrete gains under the current administration, particularly the large-scale recruitment of teachers onto permanent and pensionable terms. The Bomet remarks are not an isolated outburst. Oyuu has been building towards this position for close to a year. At a State House gathering of more than 10,000 teachers’ representatives in September 2025, he described Ruto as a “perfect teacher,” telling the crowd, “when we went to college, no one taught like this man.” At the same event, he went further still, declaring on behalf of the union, “Kumi bila break. Broad-based government is the way to go, a slogan widely read as backing not just a second term but an extended stay in power. Oyuu was subsequently re-elected KNUT Secretary-General unopposed in April, giving him a fresh five-year mandate to carry that position into the 2027 campaign.
The endorsement arrives as the 2027 election cycle intensifies and unions and professional bodies come under growing pressure to declare sides. Oyuu’s statement positions KNUT firmly in Ruto’s corner, at least at the leadership level, and does so with a union that describes itself as the country’s largest single labour union outside the Francis Atwoli-led Central Organisation of Trade Unions.
Supporters of the endorsement see it as straightforward pragmatism. Teachers have long complained of staff shortages, delayed promotions and inadequate hardship allowances. The Ruto administration has made teacher recruitment a visible priority, hiring tens of thousands of teachers in recent years, a move Oyuu has previously credited to an affirmative-action arrangement with the government aimed at absorbing long-serving unemployed teachers. By aligning with the administration that delivered those numbers, KNUT leadership argues it is simply recognising results and positioning the union to secure further concessions on salaries, infrastructure and working conditions.
Historically, Kenyan trade unions have often engaged the incumbent power rather than remaining permanently adversarial. Oyuu has framed his position in exactly those terms: the union works with whoever is in office, if that relationship advances members’ interests. In this reading, the endorsement is less about personal loyalty to Ruto and more about locking in gains already made and negotiating from a position of relative goodwill, much as KNUT and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) did in pledging cooperation with Ruto immediately after his first-term election in 2022.
Critics, however, warn that the decision carries significant downsides. A teachers’ union’s primary mandate is to defend the professional and economic interests of its members, not to campaign for a presidential candidate. Explicit electoral endorsements risk dividing the membership: many teachers support opposition figures, or would simply prefer their union to remain strictly non-partisan. When leadership picks a side, internal cohesion can fray, and the union’s moral authority to criticise future government policy may be weakened.
There is also the question of independence. Close alignment with the state can create a perception of co-option. Should political fortunes shift after 2027, or should teacher grievances resurface, KNUT may find it harder to speak with an independent voice. Kenya’s history offers examples of unions that paid a price for becoming too closely identified with one political camp. Some observers further argue that such endorsements blur the boundary between interest-group advocacy and partisan politics, narrowing the space for civil society to hold power to account regardless of who occupies State House.
Oyuu’s critics may also point to the union’s internal politics as a caution against overreading the strength of his mandate. Although he ran unopposed for the top post in April, his predecessor and rival, Wilson Sossion, has continued pushing for a return to KNUT leadership through the courts, a reminder that Oyuu’s authority to speak for teachers as a bloc is not entirely without internal contest.
Oyuu’s declaration highlights a recurring tension in Kenyan public life: the trade-off between short-term delivery and long-term institutional autonomy. For a union leader measured by tangible benefits delivered to members, backing a government that has expanded teacher employment can look like responsible leadership.
For those who believe professional bodies should stay above the electoral fray, it looks like a step toward politicisation of an institution meant to serve teachers of every political persuasion. As the 2027 campaign gathers pace, other unions and professional associations will face similar choices. Whether Oyuu’s move strengthens teachers’ bargaining power or leaves the union more exposed will depend less on the rhetoric of the moment and more on what follows, both at the negotiating table and at the ballot box. For now, the Secretary-General has made his position clear. Teachers and the wider public will judge the results.
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