A panel tasked with recruiting members of the electoral commission is facing a fresh hurdle after a city lawyer moved to court challenging participation of President William Ruto’s adviser, Prof Adams Oloo, in the ongoing exercise.
Lawyer Apollo Mboya lodged the legal challenge on Thursday at the High Court in Nairobi contesting Prof Oloo’s impartiality and independence in the selection process of the electoral commissioners. He also alleges conflict of interest.
Prof Oloo, who is also a law lecturer, serves as the Adviser of Strategy and Communication in President Ruto's Council of Economic Advisers.
Last month, he was appointed by the President to the Selection Panel of Members and Chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). In the panel he represents the Parliamentary Service Commission, which lawyer Mboya says is by law supposed to be a people’s watchdog.
“Prof Oloo cannot faithfully, impartially and in good conscience be an independent representative of the Parliamentary Service Commission in the panel and an advisor to the President/Executive at the same time,” contends lawyer Mboya in the court papers.
“If that was constitutionally permissible, the need to provide for sectoral representatives as contemplated under the First Schedule of the IEBC Act would have been pointless. As it were, the Presidency/Executive may as well appoint all members of the panel,” he says.
Mr Mboya adds that Prof Oloo’s position in the Selection Panel presents brazen conflict of interest and is an affront to the principle of separation of powers and representation that was intended by the IEBC Act.
“An election is a process, beginning with the appointment of the electoral commissioners to the announcement of results. With political drumbeats already on crescendo, the commissioners appointed from this process will be blotted before they assume office. Needles to state, the endemic suspicions and mistrust that have pervaded Kenyan’s electoral process will be revived,” says Mr Mboya.
It is his argument that violation of the integrity of the selection process of IEBC commissioners defeats the structural and legal objectives of the Act which are representation of the people in the selection of IEBC commissioners.
Upon filing the case, Mr Mboya wanted the court to certify the petition as urgent and issue orders stopping Prof Oloo from participating in the recruitment of the electoral commissioners pending the determination of the dispute.
He also wanted the court to temporarily suspend all proceedings of the Selection Panel. But Justice Chacha Mwita declined to issue instant orders and instead directed the lawyer to serve the respondents with the court papers and fixed the matter for directions on February 18.
The respondents in the petition are the Parliamentary Service Commission, Prof Oloo and the attorney-general.
