We're committed to processing Nadco report, says House team

A joint parliamentary committee has moved to allay doubts about its commitment to process the dialogue report amid concerns of sluggishness and lack of seriousness by the panel.

The joint Senate and National Assembly Justice and Legal Affairs Committee is yet to process the report and the bills committed to it with only three days to the end of its task.

The joint team was given 45 days from March 6 to deliberate and issue recommendations on how to handle the National Dialogue Committee report.

Effectively, the committee should submit a report by April 20, to both Houses of Parliament.

"We need to finalise these sessions because the delay has caused perceptions and rumours out there. These sessions will give the public confidence that we are committed to this work,” Bomet Senator Hillary Sigei said.

Sigei co-chairs the committee alongside Tharaka MP George Murugara.

However, in its sitting on Tuesday— after adjournments of two previous ones for lack of quorum — the committee dispelled fears of non-commitment, but failed to address itself on the timelines.

Instead, the committee announced that it has moved to prioritise the consideration of the IEBC Bill, 2023.

The Bill, which is among the eight that have been introduced in Parliament, seeks to effect fur-reaching electoral reforms recommended by Nadco.

Consequently, the panel has scheduled a public participation meeting on Thursday as it moves to fast-track the Bill.

“We have 17 stakeholders that have expressed interest to make their presentations on the Bill,” Murugara said in Parliament on Tuesday.

The committee said it has prioritised the Bill to among others pave the way for recruitment of the IEBC commissioners whose absence has stagnated several by-elections and boundary delimitation.

“The country is looking at us. The amendments to the IEBC Act are political in as much as they are legal. If we delay to process it, either of the political divide may think there are some political undercurrents,” Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse said.

Mutuse said the committee needs find the ‘shortest and fastest’ route to finalise the Bills.

He said the delays to conclude the amendment to the IEBC Act and in turn recruitment of the commissioners, has stalled by-elections in several electoral areas as well as delimitation of electoral boundaries.

“We are staring at a constitutional crisis if we are not in one already. That is why we need to find the shortest and fastest route to go about these things,” he said.

Murugara said the committee will retreat soon after the Thursday meeting to write a report on the IEBC Bill that will be tabled in the National Assembly on Tuesday next week.

“We know that Nadco itself is a product of public participation, but we have to be careful so that we don’t fall in trouble where people accuse us of not listening to them,” he said.

The IEBC Bill, 2023 that among others proposes changes to the IBEC selection panel and provides procedure for delimitation of the electoral boundaries is another bill fronted by the committee.

“The Bill seeks to amend the first schedule to the IEBC No. 9 of 2011 to increase the number of members of election panel from seven to nine to accommodate a wide spectrum of stakeholders and interest groups,” the Bill states.

The Bill also provides that the decision of the commission shall either be by a unanimous decision or by a majority of the commissioners.

In the last election, retired chairman Wafula Chebukati was on the spot for declaring presidential results without ‘consulting’ majority of the members.

Other Bills currently before the committee are the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Statutory Instruments Bill, 2023, the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the NGCA (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

Others are the Leader of Opposition Bill, 2023, Elections Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and Political Parties (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which all seek to implement the Nadco report.