- The panel will select, interview and nominate IEBC commissioners.
- The MPs approved the changes in both Second and Third Reading.
Image: FILE
The National Assembly has approved radical amendments to the law on the panel that will select, interview and pick the next IEBC commissioners.
MPs who burned the midnight oil to pass the amendments before they broke for the Christmas recess, technically handed fringe parties a say in the selection process.
The IEBC (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was moved by Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wa.
Following the approval, the Political Parties Liaison Committee-the umbrella body of all political parties-will now have one slot in the selection panel.
While moving the amendments, Ichung'wa said the inclusion of small parties would ensure that major outfits do not push for their interests in the IEBC commissioners selection process.
"Even parties without even an MCA, as long as they are registered by the political parties, they will have an opportunity to sit in the panel to interview the commissioners," Ichung'wa said.
The proposed law provides one slot to the Public Service Commission and two slots to the Parliamentary Service Commission-a man and a woman.
The law Society of Kenya will have one slot and the Inter-religious Council will have two slots.
The Parliamentary Service Commission initially had four slots in the EBC selection panel.
"These provisions cures that unconstitutionality that was found in the Act by the High Court as petitioned by Okiya Omtatah," Ichung'wa said.
The Kikuyu MP said the bill will ensure that the country moves forward and that there is no vacuum at the IEBC when the term of the chairperson and two commissioners end in January.
The chairperson Wafula Chebukati and commissioners Boya Molu and Abdi Guliye will exit in January while the other four are facing removal from office.
Ichung'wa argued that without the amendments, it would have been easier for big coalitions like Azimio and Kenya Kwanza to dominate the selection panel.
"This will ensure that non-parliamentary parties have a stake and a say as to who sits in the panel that will do the important work of interviewing the persons who will take over from the current commissioners," Ichung'wa said.
The opposition coalition Azimio had walked out of the Chambers and therefore did not participate in the approval of the Bill.
The Bill will now be taken to the President for Assent into law.