•The selection panel said the interviews run from December 1 to December 7.
• Weda, Odede, IMLU's Peter Kiama, ICJ's Elsy Saina among those shortlisted.
Leading human rights crusaders, academics and lawyers are among those shortlisted for Kenya National Commission on Human Rights interviews.
The KNCHR has been operating without commissioners after Kagwiria Mbogori (chairperson), George Morara, Jedidah Waruhiu and Suzanne Chivusia left office in March last year. They served for a six-year term that began in 2014.
The commission has, therefore, been under the care of its secretariat, headed by CEO Bernard Mogesa.
But in an advert, the panel recruiting new commissioners said 22 people applied for the chairmanship, while 249 others applied to members.
For the position of chairperson, human rights lawyer and activist Njonjo Mue, lawyer Ambrose Otieno Weda, former LSK council member Roselyne Odede and executive director of Independent Medico-Lego Unit (IMLU) Peter Kiama have been shortlisted.
Also shortlisted for the position is Moni Wekesa, the academic and lawyer who had also interviewed to be chief justice earlier in the year.
Other shortlisted applicants are Justus Munyithia, a former LSK official who serves at the board of lobby Kituo Cha Sheria and who was also interviewed for the position of IEBC commissioner earlier in the year. Leah Barasa, Charles Khamala and Lawrence Mute have also been shortlisted.
The interviews for the commission boss will be held on December 1.
Of the 249 people who applied to be commissioners, the selection panel shortlisted 35 candidates to be interviewed in three bunches starting December 2. The interviews will end on December 7.
Shortlisted applicants include former Eala member Sara T. Bonaya, International Commission of Jurists Kenyan chapter executive director Elsy Saina, Claris Oganga, who is a leading human rights specialist working at the UN human rights office, and University of Nairobi don Grace Nyamongo.
The delayed recruitment has attracted widespread criticism, with former commissioners and players in the sector complaining it was sabotaging the work of the commission.
Former commissioner Waruhiu had told the Star that the absence of substantive commissioners was hurting the effectiveness of the commission in fulfilling its mandate.
“It is unfortunate that the commission has remained without appointed commissioners, hence unable to effectively carry out its most-needed business. The government needs to move with speed to fill these vacancies,” Waruhiu said.
The commission serves as the link between the government and civil society, helping to bring to the attention of the state issues of concern related to human rights. It also helps the state inculcate human rights approach in its policy decision and implementation.
But without the commissioners, the agency cannot transact business effectively as there are commitments that only the commissioners can make on its behalf.
“Without the commissioners, nothing virtually moves. There are businesses the secretariat cannot transact,” Hussein Khalid, the executive director of Coast-based Haki Africa, had said.
“It is something worth piling pressure on as the delayed recruitment is akin to the state crippling the commission and the larger human rights agenda,” Khalid added.
Waruhiu said during their term, KNCHR suffered consistent under-funding from the government, making it to largely depend on magnanimity of partners and foreign donors.
“Since we were appointed in 2014, we always sought a budget of Sh1 billion. But the Treasury never gave us even half [of it] throughout our tenure. This obviously meant that most of the programmes the commission lined up to do in furtherance of its mandate could not be afforded,” she said.