The race to fill the vacancies at the country’s electoral commission gets underway with the proposed amendments to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Act, one of the hurdles in the way of a new commission.
Already, Senate Speaker Amason Kingi has summoned the 67-member Senate for special sitting today morning and afternoon to fast-track the IEBC (Amendment) Bill 2022, sponsored by Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wah- Majority Leader National Assembly.
“Notice is given to all Senators that pursuant to Standing Order 33 (1) of the Senate Standing Orders, on the request of the Senate Majority Leader and with the support of the requisite number of Senators, I have appointed Thursday, January 19, 2023, as a day for special sittings of the Senate,” the notice by Speaker Kingi to Senators and the general public, reads.
The proposed changes to the IEBC Act come after President William Ruto, in a Gazette Notice of October 22, 2022, formally declared vacancies at the country’s seven-member electoral agency.
The law says that at least six months before the expiry of the term of the chairperson or a member of the commission or within 14 days of the declaration of a vacancy in the office of the chairperson or member of the commission, the President shall appoint a selection panel.
The law further states that the selection panel shall consist of seven persons for the purposes of appointment of the chairperson or member of the commission.
It is not clear why the declaration of the vacancies of the commission was delayed considering that the tenures of IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati and two other commissioners- Boya Molu and Abdi Guliye, came to an end this month after serving their six-year nonrenewable terms.
The three were appointed by retired President Uhuru Kenyatta in January 2017 following their nomination in December 2016, to start the six years at the commission.
However, their colleagues- Ms Juliana Cherera (Vice chairperson) and commission members Mr Justus Nyangaya, Mr Francis Wanderi and Ms Irene Masit, who had been appointed by Mr Kenyatta in September 2021, had their six-year term cut short.
Petitions were filed in the National Assembly seeking the formation of a tribunal by President William Ruto to investigate their conduct after accusations that they disputed the August 9, 2022 presidential election results that saw President Ruto declared the winner against Mr Raila Odinga.
The petitions also accused them of trying to moderate the presidential election results with a view to either having Mr Odinga declared the winner of the presidential election or at worst, to force a runoff between President Ruto and Mr Odinga.
The National Assembly adopted a report of its committee on Justice and Legal Affairs recommending the formation of a tribunal to investigate them.
However, the resolution saw Ms Cherera, Mr Nyangaya and Mr Wanderi opt to resign instead of facing the tribunal headed by Court of Appeal Judge Aggrey Muchelule, leaving Ms Masit as the only commissioner to have her fate determined by the tribunal.
The four were appointed to the commission to replace commissioners- Ms Connie Maina, Ms Margaret Mwachanya, Mr Paul Kurgat and Dr Rosslyn Akombe, who had been appointed alongside Mr Chebukati, Molu and Guliye, but opted to resign in October 2017 and April 2018.
They accused Mr Chebukati of highhandedness against them and some commission staff noting that their continued stay in office was untenable.
The IEBC (Amendment) Bill 2022, passed in the National Assembly on December 1, 2022 and transmitted to the Senate for concurrence, proposes to amend the first schedule of the parent Act to change the composition of the selection panel that oversees the filling of vacant positions at the commission.
The Bill proposes to reduce the slots of the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC), which nominates four of the seven members of the selection panel.
If it becomes law as passed in the National Assembly, the Political Parties Liaison Committee (PPLC) and the Public Service Commission (PSC) will each be allowed to nominate one member to the selection panel.
“The selection panel shall consist of one man and one woman nominated by the Parliamentary Service Commission, one person nominated each by the Public Service Commission, the Political Parties Liaison Committee, the Law Society of Kenya and two persons nominated by the Inter-Religious Council of Kenya (IRCK),” the Bill reads.
The part which is targeted for repeal states that the selection panel shall consist of two men and two women nominated by the Parliamentary Service Commission, one person each nominated by LSK and two persons nominated by the Inter-Religious Council of Kenya (ICK).
The law states that a person is qualified to be a member of the selection panel if the person is a Kenyan citizen, meets the requirements of leadership and integrity as provided for in the Chapter Six of the constitution and holds a degree from a university recognized in Kenya.
Also to be transacted by the House during the special sittings is the swearing-in of William Kipkemoi Kisang, the Senator-elect for Elgeyo Marakwet County.
Mr Kisang, previously Marakwet West MP in the 12th parliament, succeeds Kipchumba Murkomen who was appointed Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary by President Ruto.
In line with the Standing Order 33 (5) of the Senate Standing Orders, the business specified “in this Notice shall be the only business before the Senate during the special sittings.”
Thereafter, the House shall stand adjourned until Tuesday, February 14, 2023, when the Senate shall resume sittings after a long Christmas recess in line with its calendar.
