Law team to be known Wednesday
What you need to know:
- The principals expected to agree on the final lists of members to the two commissions today
President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga will on Wednesday meet to pick members of two powerful commissions that will spearhead the implementation of the new Constitution.
Highly placed sources in government confirmed that the Public Service Commission had finished interviewing all the candidates who were shortlisted for the positions of chairperson and commissioners to the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (COIC) and the Commission on Revenue Allocation and had forwarded their nominees to the two principals.
The lists forwarded contained the names of three persons recommended to chair each of the two commissions, from which the President and the PM would pick one person to chair each commission subject to Parliament’s approval.
The lists also contained the names of 18 candidates shortlisted for the positions of commissioners to the COIC, from which the two principals are expected to settle on eight persons to become commissioners.
Sources on Tuesday said PNU and ODM could have struck an agreement to share the top positions in the two commissions.
They said leading contenders for the COIC were President Kibaki’s advisor on coalition matters Kivutha Kibwana and Moi University law lecturer Mutakha Kangu, who is the leader of Mr Odinga’s think tank.
Other names forwarded to the President’s were that of former Kenya’s ambassador to France and Canada Ms Raychelle Omamo, the only female contestant.
Top contenders for the equally powerful Commission for Revenue Allocation were said to be former Central Bank of Kenya governor Micah Cheserem and leading economist David Ndii.
On Tuesday, Gichugu MP Martha Karua and lawyer Paul Muite questioned the names of those who were short-listed and the interviewing panel. They said that some candidates were close associates of President Kibaki and Mr Odinga.
Additional reporting by Walter Menya
