Submissions on ward and constituency boundary review closed

A team that is charged with overseeing elections has closed submissions on the review of boundaries.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission closed the submissions on January 26 and it is supposed to take 14 days to look into any concerns raised before considering them in the final report.

The report will then be forwarded to the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, which will again take another 14 days to scrutinise it before presenting it in Parliament.

MPs will then have seven days to debate the report and adopt it with or without amendments after which it will be returned to the IEBC for another 14 days before it is gazetted and published.

The new boundaries should be ready by April to enable IEBC start voter registration in preparation for elections.

IEBC boss Isaack Hassan did not pick his phone for a comment but Justice and Constitutional minister Mutula Kilonzo has been quoted saying there shall be no extension of the set deadlines.

“This is because they are not only clearly stipulated by the law but any delay would mean missing important benchmarks set out in the schedule for the implementation of the Constitution,” he said.

The commission kicked off public hearings in eight counties early this year to collect views on new constituency and ward boundaries and the sittings were marred with violence in some areas.

Members of the public gave their submissions to the team through written memoranda at the sittings, IEBC’s offices at the Anniversary Towers in Nairobi and through the commission’s website.

The team held consultative forums across the country and in particular areas where ward boundaries were adjusted to ensure that constituencies fall within the set population limits.

The hearings were held in Tana River, Isiolo, Garissa, Turkana, Homa Bay, Machakos, Busia and Elgeyo Marakwet counties. Others were Lamu, Laikipia, Wajir, Homa Bay, Machakos, Bungoma and Nandi.

Constituency and ward boundaries in twenty five counties, as proposed by the defunct Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission, were in contention.

Among the issues which cropped up were lack of consultations, naming of wards and constituencies and shifting of wards from one constituency to another.