• Parliamentary Service Commission will nominate four individuals — two men and two women — the Public Service Commission will nominate one, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission will get one slot and as well as the Law Society of Kenya, the National Gender and Equality Commission and the Attorney General.
Image: JACK OWUOR
MPs want an 11-member selection panel appointed to recruit four commissioners to fill vacancies at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
The National Assembly's Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs said the IEBC Act should be amended to provide for subsequent hiring of commissioners.
"The current First Schedule only applied to the recruitment of the current commissioners and there is, therefore, need to provide for selection panel to consider subsequent appointments," the MPs said in a draft bill.
IEBC currently has three commissioners — chairman Wafula Chebukati, Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu. The three cannot form a quorum to make critical policy decisions.
Under the IEBC Act, five commissioners are required to constitute a quorum.
Roselyn Akombe, Nkatha Maina, Margaret Mwachanya and Paul Kurgat resigned and there has been pressure from Chebukati among other players to have the vacancies filled. According to the draft bill, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Amendment Bill 2019, eight institutions will have a chance to nominate persons who sit in the panel.
Unlike in 2016 where religious organisations had the lion share in the panel, the Justice committee, chaired by Baringo North MP William Cheptumo, has given them only one slot.
Parliamentary Service Commission will nominate four individuals — two men and two women — the Public Service Commission will nominate one, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission will get one slot and as well as the Law Society of Kenya, the National Gender and Equality Commission and the Attorney General.
The bill, which was heading for publication last evening, has also proposed that the Kenya National Human Rights Commission proposes a nominee.
"It is expected that the 11-members selection panel is representative of across section of the society and its values and that it will ably discharge its core mandate of shortlisting suitable persons for appointment as commissioners," the bill says.
The panel that picked the Chebukati-led team in 2016 had five representatives from the religious groups, while the Parliamentary Service Commission had four.
National Council of Churches of Kenya was represented by Canon Peter Karanja, Abdulghafur EL-Busaidy represented the Supreme Council of Muslims, while Catholic bishops had Bernadette Musundi.
It is expected that the 11-members selection panel is representative of across section of the society and its values and that it will ably discharge its core mandate of shortlisting suitable persons for appointment as commissionersThe Bill
Others were Bishop David Oginde of Christ is the Answer Ministries, who represented the Evangelical Churches of Kenya, and Ravindra Bhurma for the Hindu Council of Kenya.
On Tuesday, NCCK proposed that political parties should have representatives in the to eliminate mistrust during elections.
Karanja told the committee chaired by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei that it will reduce cases of alleged mismanagement of elections.
He argued that by bringing on-board representatives of political parties at the electoral body will create a sense of inclusion in the management of elections.
However, Chebukati last week told the Building Bridges Initiative Task Force that political parties should not be allowed to have representatives in the electoral agency.
He said questions on the independence of party nominees are a matter of concern.
“Kenyans in the new Constitution had in mind that IEBC should be independent. That is our position. We should retain a lean, small commission rather than a larger one by parties," he told the team at KICC.
The NCCK boss also proposed a commission of a maximum seven commissioners, of which three should come from political parties based on their parliamentary strength.
“Elections management and administration of the IEBC require to be freed from the current limits of law qualification. It has not been demonstrated that the qualification of a law degree has shielded the country from either malpractices or it has provided robust leadership,” Karanja said.
“Given the contextual dynamics of elections in Kenya, the independent model should be complemented by political parties’ appointees to the commission. Empirical research establishes the fact that in politically divided contexts such as Kenya, political appointments of the commission is crucial in mitigating problems associated with bias.”
Karanja was speaking during public hearing on the Election Laws Amendment Bill 2018 and the Election Offences Amendment Bill 2018.
He also told the committee of the need to have both full-time and part-time commissioners.
The churches umbrella expressed opposition to the proposed amendments to the Elections Offences Act, which compels election candidates to sign an election return form.
“We find this criminalisation of failing to sign an election return form unconstitutional. The amendment is sufficient penalty because failure to failure to sign means you may not use these unsigned forms as evidence in case of a petition,” he said.