Cecil Miller to chair new electoral body
Newly nominated chair of the Interim Electoral Commission Cecil Miller during a press conference at his Nairobi's office. The Parliamentary Select Committee on the Constitution picked him as their choice on Tuesday. Photo/ CHRIS OJOW
What you need to know:
Mr Miller was among seven other candidates shortlisted for the job
PSC chairman Abdikadir Mohammed says their nominee had the experience needed for electoral reforms in the country.
Parliament will ratify Mr Miller's nomination.
The Parliamentary Select Committee on the Constitution has picked lawyer Cecil Miller as chairman of the Interim Independent Electoral Commission.
Mr Miller was among seven other candidates shortlisted for the job by a human resource firm, Manpower Limited.
The rest were former Speaker Francis ole Kaparo and former Kenya National Commission on Human Rights boss Maina Kiai, former commissioner to the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission, Ms Alice Yano and former executive director of the Institute of Education and Democracy, Dr Koki Muli.
Other were: Lawyers Wachira Maina, Murshid Abdalla Mohammed and Fackson Kagwe.
Making the announcement, PSC chairman Abdikadir Mohammed said that their nominee had the experience needed for electoral reforms in Kenya.
Parliament will, however, have a say on the issue as it set to ratify Mr Miller's nomination.
He said that Mr Miller had served as the lead counsel during the Kriegler Commission of Inquiry that proposed the disbandment of the then Electoral Commission of Kenya.
“We will now make the selection of the eight members of the IIEC later this afternoon (Tuesday) and hopefully tabled our report in parliament tomorrow morning,” said Mr Mohammed.
He added that his team had narrowed down to Mr Miller, Mr Kaparo and Dr Muli before making the final decision.
Mr Miller will chair the nine-team IIEC, whose first task will be to establish a secretariat, register voters afresh and create a new voters’ register.
The names of the eight members will be announced Tuesday evening as the PSC had to break mid-morning for some of its members to attend Cabinet.
Forty-three people had applied to chair the new electoral body. Over 2,000 people had applied to be members but only 60 were shortlisted by Manpower Limited on Monday.
