By endorsing Kwelagobe, the union has inevitably thrust itself into the factional wars bedevelling the party. The union is letting itself become a vessel through which the factional interests of one group are to be settled.
While we acknowledge that the entire agenda of the labour movement is political in that rights by their very nature are political issues, we think the union has committed a monumental blunder. Before one can partake in the tussles within the party, one should have inherent interest in seeing one faction win over another. For unions, we take it that the paramount consideration for any involvement would be whether one group is more worker-friendly than the other. Unions get involved in matters concerning the welfare of workers, the rights of people especially the marginalised, and general issues of social and economic equity. In other words, it is only in defence of workers' rights or more widely human rights that a union could ever partake in any struggle. So in the context of the BDP, what agenda is the Manual Workers Union trying to protect by fighting on Kwelagobe's side? The union claims that it is fighting to protect the BDP constitution.
