The Union of Industry, Commerce and Finance Workers have conceded that they made a mistake in suspending General Secretary of the Union, John Esiape.
In a statement released the Union has conceded that they erred in suspending the General Secretary on those grounds.
The Union made the concession after the Vice Chairman of UNICOF, Isaac Bondorin hauled them to court for unlawfully suspending John Esiape in a manner that would cause the Union a judgement debt.
Mr. Bondorin said he could not stand by and watch for the constitution of the union to be “handled anyhow or manipulated” for the advantage of certain people.
Meanwhile, a letter dated July 15, 2016 and addressed to the Executive Secretary of the National Labour Commission (NLC), stated that “the Management Committee of UNICOF erred by suspending the General Secretary, John Esiape.”
“We at this moment accept that we misdirected ourselves and changed the complainant’s interdiction to suspension.”
We shall, therefore, take the necessary steps to reverse the suspension to interdiction.”
UNICOF suspended John Esiape in May, 2016 over allegations of financial malfeasance allegedly involving him and an accountant of the Union.
According to a statement the chairperson signed and released to the media, a meeting was held with members of the Management Committee of UNICOF who concluded that the General Secretary be suspended.
A fraction of members of UNICOF labelled the suspension of Mr. Esiape as illegal, as only the National Executive Committee of the Union has the powers to suspend him.
Mr. Esiape has was given a deadline of 17 May, 2016 to return all UNICOF assets in his possession.
This is not the first time John Esiape has made news for the wrong reasons. During the launch of ADB’s IPO in 2015, his name popped up for allegedly taking 35,000 dollars cash in bribe to fight the management of Agricultural Development Bank (ADB).