Uhuru appoints selection panel to nominate IEBC commissioners

President Uhuru Kenyatta has appointed a panel for the selection of nominees for the appointment of members of the IEBC.

In a Gazette notice on Monday, the President appointed the seven-member panel that will oversee the filling of the four vacant positions at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

The seven members of the panel are Dr. Elizabeth Muli, Gideon Solonka, Elizabeth Meyo, Dorothy Kimengech, Rev. Joseph Ngumbi and Dr. Faradim Abdalla.

According to the IEBC (Amendment) Bill, 2019, institutions with slots at the selection panel are required to submit names to the Parliamentary Service Commission within seven days of declaration of vacancies.

President Uhuru Kenyatta declared the vacancies on April 14.

This means that the names should be submitted latest Wednesday this week.

The PSC will then upon receipt of the nominees forward them to the President for appointment and gazettement within seven days after their submission to the head of state.

The selection panel shall, within seven days, invite applications from qualified persons and publish the names of all applicants and their qualifications in the Gazette, two newspapers with national circulation and on the Parliamentary Service Commission website.

The selection panel shall then consider the applications, shortlist and interview the applicants. The PSC will provide technical support for the panel.

For almost two years, the IEBC has been operating with only three commissioners out of the maximum seven.

It also has had no substantive CEO.

The chairman is Wafula Chebukati, who sits with commissioners Boya Molu and Abdi Guliye.

The three were left were the only commissioners left after the resignation of colleagues Roselyn Akombe, Paul Kurgat, Margaret Mwachanya and Connie Maina.

Akombe resigned days before the repeat of the presidential election on October 26, 2017.

Vice-chairperson Maina, Mwachanya and Kurgat quit in April 2018.