A standoff in the opposition coalition over nominees to a recruitment panel threatens to stall the hiring of electoral commissioners. At the heart of the storm is Mr Kalonzo Musyoka’ s Wiper Democratic Movement and the National Liberal Party (NLP), which are both Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition affiliate parties.
Under the Political Parties Liaison Committee (PPLC), majority coalition, minority coalition and non-parliamentary parties were to pick a nominee each to the panel tasked to recruit commissioners of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Mr Evans Misati was elected to represent non-parliamentary parties with Mr Nicodemus Bore being picked to represent the majority party.
For the minority, Mr Augustus Muli of NLP was voted in, defeating Wiper’s Ms Koki Muli in an election presided over by IEBC.
But the opposition coalition is said to be seeking to have Mr Muli replaced with Ms Muli. NLP has since threatened to proceed to court to challenge the list of nominees.
Wiper had managed to convince Janet Mwema of Chama Cha Uzalendo, which is associated with Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti to drop out in favour of Ms Muli. Efforts to prevail upon Mr Muli to also withdraw, however, failed.
Mr Misati, who serves as PPLC chairperson, told Nation .Africa that the three names are yet to be forwarded to the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) chaired by National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula because of the dispute.
“There is still a dispute within Azimio La Umoja. Azimio is under the minority cluster and is entitled to a slot out of the three by PPLC,” said Mr Misati.
“We have given them the opportunity to sort out their issues before the names can be forwarded. Augustus won the election but Azimio has disputed his win,” he explained.
Jubilee Party Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni said the elections were marred with irregularities. Jubilee had fronted lawyer Ndegwa Njiru while ODM backed Ms Muli for the minority.
An ODM official told Nation.Africa that small parties in Azimio ganged up against Ms Muli over an opinion piece in one of the local dailies in which she had opposed the inclusion of more parties in the selection panel.
The opinion piece was published during the National Dialogue Committee (Nadco) that expanded the panel from seven to nine.
“It is because of the Nadco that PPLC now has three slots. She had argued that it should not be opened up for more political parties. So the argument was that why should she benefit from something that she had opposed,” said the official.
The small parties also refused to be persuaded to back the Wiper candidate over a remark by Mr Musyoka that the country does not need small parties.
Dr Nelson Makanda and Fatuma Saman who served in the previous selection panel have been retained by the Inter-Religious Council while Tanui Andrew Kipkoech has been picked by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya.
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has a slot while the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) has two slots. The two slots by PSC will have nominees from the Orange Democratic Movement of Raila Odinga and President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance.
