President Ruto has officially declared that six offices within the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, (IEBC) are vacant and ready for replacement.
The President’s notice gazetted on Tuesday 14th February, gives way for the recruitment of eligible commissioners and a chairperson for the electoral body.
The six offices comprise the chairperson and five IEBC commissioners. These offices have been declared vacant after the former chairperson Wafula Chebukati officially retired on January 7 2023 alongside his two other commissioners; Boya Molu and Abdi Guliye.
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The other IEBC commissioners, Juliana Cherera the vice chairperson, Justus Nyang’aya, and Francis Wanderi resigned while their fellow counterpart Irene Masit is under tribunal led by Justice Aggrey Muchelule.
In the event of Juliana Cherera’s resignation on December 5, 2022, in her resignation letter, the former IEBC vice chair stated that she could no longer hold office after her unsuccessful efforts to deal with corporate governance issues within IEBC.
These vacancies come after the seven-team commission served six years in the electoral body.
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As per the IEBC’s Amendment bill of 2022, the selection of candidates for these offices shall be done by a selection panel, which will include two nominees; a male and a female.
These nominees will come from the Parliamentary Service Commission. The panel will also comprise one person nominated each by the Public Service Commission, the Political Parties Liaison Committee, the Law Society of Kenya, and two persons- a man and a woman representing the Inter-Religious Council of Kenya.
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Azimio la Umoja coalition led by their party leader Raila Odinga is against this panel since they believe the Kenya Kwanza government will influence the appointments of the IEBC commissioners.
However, the Kenya Kwanza brigade claims that the panel is a secure way of bringing to order the chaos that was left by Raila and Former Head-of-State Uhuru Kenyatta.
