IEBC chairman and commissioners resign

The nine electoral commissioners and their chairman, formally resigned on Wednesday, paving the way for a new team to be picked to oversee the 2017 General Election.

Immediately after their exit was made public, both the ruling Jubilee coalition and Cord announced that they had picked two people each to represent them in the panel that will interview the new commissioners.

Jubilee nominated lawyers Evans Monari and Mary Karen Kigen-Sorobit to sit on the panel. Cord picked ex-Judge Tom Mbaluto and Ms Olga Karani Chemweno.

Mr Monari represented former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali in the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

He is a partner and head of dispute resolution at Coulson Harney Advocates.

Ms Kigen-Sorobit is currently a director at the Kenya National Highways Authority, where she chairs the Audit, Risk and Governance committee.

She was also the assisting counsel on the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board.

Mr Mbaluto was sacked from the Judiciary after a tribunal found him unfit to continue serving over allegations of misconduct in 2003.

Ms Chemweno is ODM’s deputy national treasurer.

In the runner-up to the 2013 elections, she was one of the insiders in URP, whose party leader was Mr William Ruto, now the Deputy President.

The four now join the other representatives selected by religious organisations to join the interviewing panel.

Although the electoral commissioners led by their chairman, Mr Ahmed Issack Hassan, sent their resignation letters to the President on Tuesday, they will remain in office until new commissioners are appointed.

“The prompt action by the IEBC commissioners released the President to declare vacant the office of the IEBC chairperson, and respective posts of the commissioners, in line with powers conferred on him by the law,” said Mr Joseph Kinyua, the head of the public service, who also chaired the committee that negotiated the Hassan team’s exit.

SH200 MILLION

The chairman and the commissioners, Ms Lilian Mahiri-Zaja (vice-chairperson), Mr Albert Bwire, Ms Kule Godana, Dr Yusuf Nzibo, Mr Abdulahi Sharawe, Mr Thomas Letangule, Ms Muthoni Wangai and Ms Mohammed Alawi, will be paid a total of about Sh200 million. However, they will only receive their dues after the new commissioners have been appointed.

Mr Kinyua, who is also the President’s Chief of Staff, said President Uhuru Kenyatta received notice of resignation from the commissioners on Tuesday night, the same day that the law paving the way for their exit came into force.

The electoral commission is now expected to operationalise it. This is why the commissioners will remain in office. Without them, the secretariat cannot implement the law.

Mr Kinyua thanked the commissioners for their “selfless duty” to the people of Kenya.

“The expedient issuance of their notices gives the country reasonable time in which to realise a smooth and orderly transition within the IEBC,” he said. The move had also given the government sufficient time to prepare for the next General Election, to be held on August 8 next year.

The opposition, however, appeared uncomfortable with the requirement that the commissioners to stay on.

Siaya Senator James Orengo expressed shock at the decision, saying that there was danger of the 2017 elections being intentionally compromised due to lack of goodwill from the government on the implementation of the new law, which came about as a result of negotiations that he and Senator Kiraitu Murungi led.

He said that Cord would insist that the commissioners should not be allowed to conduct any operations.

“With the Elections (Amendment) Act 2016 coming into effect, these commissioners should not get involved in any preparations for the 2017 General Election. The secretariat should also not undertake any serious issues that require policy directions until a new commission is in place,” he said.

However, the IEBC said that the commission was now working on the regulations to help operationalise the new law.

‘TAKEN EFFECT’

“The new law has taken effect. We are now working on regulations that will help us to operationalise the new legislation,” said the commission’s communication manager, Mr Andrew Limo.

In Parliament, the names of the four nominees to sit on the panel that will pick new commissioners were submitted to the Clerk of the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) by Majority Leader Aden Duale and Minority Leader Francis Nyenze.

The parliamentary commission will provide the secretariat and facilities for the panel.

On Wednesday, National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi told the Nation that the commission would meet on Thursday to discuss the matter. The swearing-in of the team that will interview the new commissioners will have to await the appointment of the Chief Justice.

Once the Parliamentary Service Commission has evaluated the nominees to the interviewing panel, it will forward their names to the President for appointment. The panel will then sworn into office by the CJ.

Within seven days of its appointment, the panel shall invite applications from qualified people and publish the names of all applicants and their qualifications in TheKenya Gazette, two newspapers and on the website of Parliament. It shall then consider, shortlist and interview the applicants, with the interviews being done in public.

It shall then select two persons qualified for the position of chairman and nine as commissioners and forward these to the President, who will then nominate one person for chairman and six for members.

The list of nominees will then be forwarded to the National Assembly.