President appoints new polls team

The new polls team was appointed on Wednesday to start preparing for the 2012 General Election.

President Kibaki signed the gazette notice giving the nine-member Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) the mandate to succeed the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC).

The new commission is chaired by lawyer Ahmed Isaack Hassan. He was the IIEC chairman. (Read: Hassan nominated as IEBC chair)

A Presidential Press Services statement says: “President Mwai Kibaki has, in consultation with Prime Minister Raila Odinga, appointed Mr Ahmed Issack Hassan to be the chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). He has also appointed Yusuf Abdulrahman Nzibo, Mohamed Alawi Hussun, Abdullahi M. Sharawe, Lilian Bokeeye Mahiri-Zaja, Thomas Letangule, Joyce Muthoni Wangai, Albert Bwire and Kule Galma Godana to be members of the IEBC.”

At the same time, the President also appointed lawyer Otiende Amolo as chairman of the Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ), which takes over the responsibilities of the Ombudsman — the Public Complaints Standing Committee.

Dr Regina Mwatha and Ms Saadia Abdikadir Mohamed were appointed members of the commission.

The new electoral commission starts work immediately by preparing to supervise the Kitutu Masaba by-election set to be held on November 28.

The IIEC secretariat that was led by Mr James Oswago will switch over to the IEBC to provide the much-needed continuity since the next elections could be just 13 months away.

The names were approved by MPs last Thursday, even though some of them had threatened to reject the list on grounds of regional and religious imbalance.

Most of those who had voiced their opposition were either absent or remained silent as their colleagues discussed the list.

The IIEC will hand over the work it has been carrying out since 2009 when it was appointed to handle the numerous by-elections in place of the dissolved Electoral Commission of Kenya that was blamed for bungling the 2007 elections.

During their first sitting, they are expected to elect one of the commissioners to the position of vice-chairperson, who, alongside the chairman, will play full-time roles at the IEBC.

New constituencies

Executive authority, including day-to-day running of the commission, will be exercised by the secretary to the IEBC.

The new commission has the urgent task of creating 80 new constituencies, coming up with fresh voter registers in light of the changes in the number and boundaries of constituencies, among other preparations, before the next elections which could take place in December 2012 if the Cabinet gets its way in Parliament.