NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 27 – A human resource firm that will help recruit local experts to write a new constitution will be picked on Wednesday.
The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Constitution Review Abdikadir Mohamed said that they were still vetting 13 recruitment firms that had applied for the job by the close of the application process.
“We needed more information from the firms, which we felt was necessary for us to make that decision. Our secretariat will be working with them to get further details and will also be looking at some of the reputable companies, so that we have a wide range to select from,” Mr Mohamed stated after a PSC meeting on Tuesday.
In an earlier interview with Capital News, Justice Minister Martha Karua – who is a member of the PSC – had insisted that Parliament must use a recruitment firm to employ the six local experts.
It had emerged on Monday that the Select Committee intended to name the experts without consulting any HR firm, after saying that those who had applied were not qualified.
“The law says that we have to get the help of a recruitment firm so it’s a matter of law, not a matter of discretion. We will recruit a reputable firm to give us the professional support,” Ms Karua insisted.
On Thursday last week, the parliamentary committee selected three foreigners to sit in the nine man committee of experts.
They were picked from a list of five proposed by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The three renowned constitutional lawyers selected were Christian Murray (South Africa), Dr Chaloka Beyani (Zambia) and Prof Fredrick Ssempembwa (Uganda). All have participated in a number of constitution writing assignments in various countries.
The names of Dr Julian Hottinger (Switzerland) and Prof Brendan O’Leary (Ireland) were also included in a list to be tabled in Parliament for approval.
Mr Mohamed said that the appointment of six local experts would be done before February 2.
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