IEBC has started the search for a new CEO amid murmurs over the slow pace of reforms at the electoral body.
In an advertisement on Friday, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission invited applications to replace Ezra Chiloba.
Chiloba was sacked last year after an internal audit implicated him in procurement and tender irregularities in which millions of shillings were lost.
“A vacancy has risen in the commission for the position of Commission Secretary/Chief Executive Officer. Applications are therefore invited for the position of CEO,” the agency said.
The CEO is the head of the commission’s secretariat and is the accounting officer of the agency. Those interested should apply by January 31 before a shortlisting for interviews for suitable candidates is done.
Both Jubilee Party and the Opposition Nasa seem to have shelved their push for reforms at IEBC amid calls for a referendum and the fast approaching delimitation of boundaries.
IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati, during an appearance before the National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee last year, blamed Parliament for not putting in place laws to cure the crisis that has threatened to paralyse the electoral agency. IEBC currently has only three commissioners following the resignation of four others.
Read:
On January 1, ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi said the electoral commission cannot be trusted to conduct a free and fair referendum and called for its dissolution.
“In 2017, the IEBC put the country on the brink of war. If this is the referee that will conduct the referendum, how can Kenyans have faith,” Mudavadi said.
Chebukati and two commissioners - Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu - cannot form a quorum to make critical policy decisions. Under the IEBC Act, five commissioners are required to constitute a quorum.
With the exit of the commission’s vice chair Nkatha Maina, commissioners Margaret Mwachanya and Paul Kurgat, leaders now want a new team capable of working independently and with unity.
National Assembly minority leader John Mbadi told the Star that the slow pace of fixing the commission is becoming a concern to the ODM.
He said the Building Bridges Initiative committee should come up with a solution to the current impasse at the commission.
“My thinking is that the issue of IEBC was supposed to be part of the Building Bridges Initiative. We need to put pressure on that team to come up with a road map,” Mbadi told the Star on the phone.
Mbadi called for the formation of an interim electoral body to handle the issue of the referendum saying the current commission cannot be trusted with the task.
“Even if it is on interim basis. It is becoming so urgent that we may need to put it across as a party. If we delay those boundaries will not affect the next elections,” Mbadi said.
There are also a number of pending by-elections the electoral body is expected to conduct stemming from the 2017 poll petitions.
SET FOR OVERHAUL
In April, IEBC will be conducting by-elections in Embakasi South and Ugenya constituencies and Lelan ward in Elgeyo Marakwet.
Justice and Legal Affairs committee chairman William Cheptumo told the Star that “all is set for the overhaul of IEBC”.
He said his committee has finalised a law that will facilitate the replacement of commissioners in the event of a resignation.
“At the moment, we do not have a law that will facilitate the setting up of a panel to pick nominees to IEBC,” the Baringo North MP said.
Makueni MP Dan Maanzo said political parties and Parliament should take a pro-active role in pushing for reforms at IEBC.
“We seem to have lost track and this debate should start. The more we delay the more we court troubles and challenges we encountered during and after the last general elections. We must be serious as a country,” Maazo said.
Also See: