Consider us for NLC, say ex-lawmakers

Want recruitment stopped; law says they can't be members of NLC

by susan muhindi

News30 May 2019 - 15:05

In Summary

• MPs, MCAs and governors can be recruited to other independent commissions.

• They filed a case in court over exclusion from NLC recruitment but were told it had not yet begun.

National Land Commission Chairman Muhammad Swazuri during a briefing in his office in Nairobi, June 11, 2018. /EZEKIEL AMING'A

Former MPs, MCAs and governors want to be considered in recruitment for members of the National Land Commission.

They have filed a case in court challenging the NLC Act that bars them.

Former Members of Parliament Association (FOPA) Kenya claims Section 8 (3) of the NLC discriminates greatly against them as it stops them from applying for recruitment as members of the NLC. They include former MPs, senators, MCAs and governors.

Section 8 (3) of the NLC disqualifies immediate former MPs and MCAs as well as former governors from eligibility as members of the commission.

But FOPA chairman Humphrey Kimani says there is no logical or reasonable grounds why former members of parliamentary or county assemblies or governors should be excluded from recruitment in the independent commissions.

According to the court documents, the association filed a similar application in March. When the matter came up for hearing, the court observed that since recruitment had not commenced, the case be pushed to June 17.

Humphrey says the judge also indicated that when recruitment begins, the association was at liberty to apply for interim orders.

The association chair says the President in a Gazette notice dated April 2019, appointed the selection panel under the NLC Act. The panel may advertise for applicants to fill the vacant commissioner’s positions at any time. The NLC terms have ended.

The association wants the court to suspend NLC recruitment.

Except for the NLC and National Police Service Commission, the law allows the petitioner’s members to be commissioners of other independent commissions. These include the Parliamentary Service Commission, Judicial Service Commission, Commission on Administrative Justice (Ombudsman), among others.