By George Omondi
Federation of Kenya Employers executive director
Jacqueline Mugo has been elected vice president of the 2014
International Labour Conference (ILC).
Mrs Mugo was voted in by delegates from
International Labour Organisation (ILO) member states in Geneva
yesterday at the start of the 103rd Session of ILC which runs up to June
12.
The temporary position places her among a few
Kenyans, including Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu)
secretary-general Francis Atwoli who served as vice president of the
ILO, to play an important role in ILO.
Within global labour relations ILC is referred to as the Parliament of Labour.
It is the ILO’s highest decision making organ
which crafts and adopts international labour conventions and
recommendations. Administratively, the conference crafts the ILO’s
general policy, work programme and budget.
During her stint, Mrs Mugo and her team will be
expected to craft labour policies to guide small firms which are
transiting from the informal sector to the formal economy.
Her election, and Mr Atwoli’s, are seen as the beginning of a major return by Kenyans to influential positions in ILO.
Cotu has trumpeted such appointments as global respect and recognition for Kenya’s labour movement’s progress.
In the past, the late Kijana Wamalwa, who later
rose to become Kenya’s vice president; and the late Robert Ouko, a
former Foreign Affairs minister, served as ILO presidents.
Apart from her current position as FKE executive
director, Mrs Mugo has served as secretary-general of Business Africa,
formerly the Pan-African Employers’ Confederation.
She was the first woman to hold the post in the continental body
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