An unbowed Francis Atwoli, the Secretary General of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU), has expressed his disgust at the people who set ablaze the Francis Atwoli Road road sign in Kileleshwa.

Atwoli said the action by the vandals on Monday night targeting his honorary road sign post does not move him and vowed to soldier on serving workers in Kenya and across the world as a labour leader.

“Bringing down an honorary road signage under my name doesn’t hurt me. On the flip side it will haunt, for life, those who are behind it. For how does it benefit them? How do you sleep at night knowing you are a vandal?” he said in a post shared on his social media handles.


The vocal leader of Kenya’s largest labour union indicated that the vandalism of the signage will not dent his image and achievements in the labour movement locally and abroad.

“My name is all over the world and one doesn’t require a street signage for them to know who Francis Atwoli is. The name will live in posterity taking into account my years of selfless service to the workers in Kenya and the world,” said Atwoli.


He added, “If anything, the signage was just an act of honour bestowed to me by Nairobians taking into account my many years of service.”

The Francis Atwoli Road sign in Nairobi’s plush Kileleshwa estate was named Dik Dik road before and a section of activists and lawyers opposed to its renaming have been leading calls for its destruction.