MPs will today approve commissioners for the electoral agency as presidential hopeful Mong’are Okong’o poked halls in the manner of their vetting by a key House committee.
Mong’are yesterday termed the vetting by the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee “opaque and rigid”.
The Nyamira Senator said approval hearings by most of the parliamentary committees are rushed, giving MPs inadequate time to sieve through nominees’ backgrounds.
He said the approval of the IEBC nominees was just a rubber-stamp and lacked substance. Mong’are said the hasty nature of the vetting is a fundamental loophole for lawmakers to approve nominees with integrity questions.
“The whole committee vetting process needs to be overhauled with specific timelines that allow sufficient time for MPs to carry out thorough background checks on nominees,” he said.
Currently, the committee advertises for call of memoranda from the public, seven days to the vetting of nominees. There lacks checks and balances to ensure any petitions brought forward by the public are not swept under the carpet by committee chairpersons who wield immense influence.
“The whole thing is opaque and rigid and the committee members have no say.”
The senator suggests that all committees be attached with experts who should induct committees on nominees to be vetted to ensure it is not only above board but also satisfactory.
“The whole process was expedited because the chairman had instructions to have the commissioners approved. There was no vigilance to look at the history of the nominees,” Mong’are said.
The Justice and Legal Affairs Committee chaired by Ainabkoi MP Samuel Chepkong’a last week approved lawyer Wafula Chebukati as IEBC chairman and six others as commissioners.
The committee approved Abdi Guliye (Animal Scientist), Boya Molu, a human resource practitioner, Consolata Nkatha (Public Relations practitioner) and Kiswahili language expert Margaret Mwachanya as commissioners.
However, the panel has been accused of brushing aside petitions from the public objecting to the nomination of Chebukati, Molu and Nkatha.
Chebukati’s law firm – Cootow and Associates Advocates – was accused of professional negligence that led to loss of millions of shillings that belonged to the Nairobi county government. He was also the lawyer of former anti-graft chief Philip Kinisu, who was hounded out of office for allegedly pocketing Sh35 million from the National Youth Service.
“I have never received any NYS money. My law firm did not do business with NYS,” Chebukati said when he appeared before the JLAC.
Chebukati’s political links with ODM leader Raila Odinga when he vied for the Saboti parliamentary seat on an ODM ticket in the 2007 election came to haunt him during the vetting.
He resigned as a life member of ODM in November last year before he applied for the position.
Nkatha allegedly has an ongoing criminal case, in which she is accused of defrauding the Museums of Kenya of Sh280 million. Committee chairman Chepkong’a is on the spot for sitting on the objections that should have unearthed concealed negative information about the nominees.
During the two-day vetting, Chepkong’a said there were no objections raised against the nominees. Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma, a member of the committee, bashed the panel for ignoring “serious integrity concerns”.
“We have been sent confirmations that some Kenyans presented memoranda opposing the nomination of some members,” Kaluma said.
“Where did these petitions go to? We were being told no petition was received from the public. I have personally asked the chair and all that he told me is that there was no petition.”