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A war of words has broken out between Tower Sacco and two Nyandarua teachers’ union branches over recent attacks on the society by bloggers.

Sacco chairman John Gitundu accused Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) and Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) of sponsoring the bloggers to tarnish the name of the society with the aim of bringing the Sacco down by causing panic among its 186,000 members. Tower Sacco was formerly known as Nyandarua Teachers Sacco.

 “Some of them (union officials) have been selling cows to get money to pay the bloggers to keep attacking the society to create fear and anxiety among our members,” Gitundu claimed during the Sacco’s 47th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Catholic Ground in Ol Kalou town on Saturday.

 “Kuppet and Knut should keep off our affairs. Why are they hell-bent to kill the Sacco that feeds about a million people?” the chairman wondered.  But the Knut branch secretary Ndung’u Johana said the bad blood between the Sacco and the unions is because the teachers are supporting their members to replace their retired colleagues who hold posts in the society.

 “There is set to be election for the Sacco chairman’s post next year and the current holder fears that the teachers could gang up and vote him out in favour of a serving teacher,” Ndung’u said when contacted for comment.

 The Knut Secretary said the bad blood between the Sacco management and the teachers’ unions went a notch higher during recent election of Ol Kalou Zone director of the Sacco where the teachers voted out the management’s favourite candidate, James Mwangi Kiiru, who had been a director for 32 years. His place was taken by a serving teacher, Patrick Thogo.

  The branch Kuppet secretary, Julius Macharia termed the accusations by the Sacco chairman as “strange” adding that he was not member of the society and also he was not aware of any union member who is paying bloggers to attack the Sacco.  During the AGM, some Sacco members proposed that the bloggers should be barred from ever joining the Sacco that is headquartered in Nyandarua county and has 23 branches in other counties.

 Gitundu disclosed that soon some members who are suspected of financing the bloggers’ activities against the society will soon be summoned by the Sacco’s board to face disciplinary action.