• The President is expected to appoint the selection panel consisting of such persons as Parliament shall determine for the purposes of appointment of the chairperson or member of the Commission.
• The panel shall consist of four persons, being two men and two women, nominated by the Parliamentary Service Commission.
Image: JACK OWUOR
The President has declared four vacancies in the IEBC after two years of operating with only three commissioners.
The four are part of the seven commissioners that are supposed to be in the Commission.
The IEBC also has had no substantive CEO.
But how is the recruitment process carried out?
According to the IEBC Act, the procedure for appointment of members of the commission and its CEO include;
A selection Panel has to be formed at least six months before the lapse of the term of the chairperson or member of the Commission or within 14 days of the declaration of a vacancy.
The President is expected to appoint the selection panel consisting of such persons as Parliament shall determine for the purposes of appointment of the chairperson or member of the Commission.
The panel shall consist of four persons, being two men and two women, nominated by the Parliamentary Service Commission.
One person nominated by the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops; the other nominated by the National Council of Churches of Kenya; one person nominated by the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims.
The National Muslim Leaders Forum and the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya should also nominate one person.
Another person by the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya and Hindu Council of Kenya.
The bodies are expected to submit the names of their nominees to the Parliamentary Service Commission for transmission to the President for appointment.
During their first sitting, the panel would elect a chairperson and vice-chairperson from amongst its number and determine their own procedure.
The Parliamentary Service Commission shall provide the secretariat services and facilities required by the selection panel in the performance of its functions.
OATH
The chairperson and members of the selection panel shall, before assuming office, take and subscribe to the oath or affirmation of office prescribed in the Third Schedule.
After this, the panel engages in the selection of nominees.
The selection panel shall, within seven days of its appointment, invite applications from qualified persons and publish the names of all applicants and their qualifications in the Gazette, two newspapers of national circulation and on the website of the Parliamentary Service Commission.
INTERVIEWS
The selection panel shall consider the applications, shortlist and interview the applicant in public.
After the interviews, the selection panel shall select two persons qualified to be appointed as chairperson and nine persons qualified to be appointed as members of the Commission.
They then forward the names to the President for the nomination of one person for appointment as the chairperson and six persons for appointment as members.
It is from this that the President shall, within seven days of receipt of the names and forward the list of nominees to the National Assembly for approval in accordance with the Public Appointments (Parliamentary Approval) Act.
The President shall, within seven days of receipt of the names approved by the National Assembly, by notice in the Gazette, appoint the Chairperson and the members of the Commission.
GENDER EQUITY
During the short listing, nominating or appointing persons as chairperson and members of the Commission, the selection panel, the National Assembly and the President shall ensure that not more than two-thirds of the members are of the same gender and shall ensure regional balance.
In this case, If you are from Northern Kenya or Western Kenya you will not be picked.
This is because they are already represented in a Commission where regional balance carries the day.
The selection panel shall stand dissolved upon the requisite appointments being made.
Last year, the Senate and the National Assembly clashed over the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (Amendment) Bill that provides a framework for filling the commissioner positions.
The proposed amendments provide the procedure for the formation of a selection panel that will recruit and fill any future vacancies at the agency.
Senators are set to endorse changes introduced to the bill by the Senate Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC), effectively causing a standoff with the sister house.