The East Africa Trade Union Congress was an umbrella union, founded by Fred Kubai and Makhan Singh, in 1949 as a means to mobilise workers across races to advance their interests in the then British Colonies of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika History of COTU https://cotu-kenya.org/history-of-cotuk/ . The work of the union was, however, heavily curtailed by repressive tactics of the British colonial government. Secretary-general Makhan Singh was arrested in 1951, and jailed for 10 years.Rose Tunguru, The Role of Trade Unions in Kenya’s Struggle for Social and Economic Justice https://www.theelephant.info/analysis/2026/06/05/the-role-of-trade-unions-in-kenyas-struggle-for-social-and-economic-justice/ Shiraz Durrani, Every Inch A Fighter Reflections on Makhan Singh and the Trade Union Struggle in Kenya https://www.academia.edu/167767594/Every_Inch_A_Fighter_Reflections_on_Makhan_Singh_and_the_Trade_Union_Struggle_in_Kenya while chairman Fred Kubai was among the Kapenguria Six, arrested and charged with organising the Mau Mau rebellion Fred Oluoch, The case that immortalised Kenya's ‘Kapenguria Six’ https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/magazine/Case-that-immortalised-Kenya-Kapenguria-Six-/434746-3995106-s8sxn5z/index.html. References