NAIVASHA, Kenya, Mar 1 – A Bill to establish a new electoral body will be tabled in Parliament in two weeks, and the country could have the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in place by April.
The Chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee Ababu Namwamba said he expected to table the Electoral Act Bill in Parliament on March 17, after which the body should be established 14 days after the law is enacted.
The Interim Independent Electoral Commission chaired by Issack Hassan took over from the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya after the bungled 2007 election.
Mr Namwamba urged Parliament to publish the Bill in the shortest time possible.
He said his committee had decided that the chairman of the new electoral commission will be recruited competitively.
The commissioners will be drawn from IIEC and the current Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission (IIBRC).
Mr Namwamba said the committee had agreed that the CEO of the electoral body will be recruited by the new commission.
Mr Namwamba said a recruitment panel would undertake employment and will comprise six persons nominated from the Judicial Service Commission and Parliamentary Service Commission.
Names of the panellists will be submitted to the National Assembly for vetting.
"All positions must be advertised as per the Constitution of Kenya so that every Kenyan should be given an opportunity to serve the country," Mr Namwamba said.
He spoke at the close of a two-day workshop in Naivasha that his committee had organised to discuss with other stakeholders about the electoral process in the new Constitution.
The meeting was attended by members of the IIEC and IIBRC.
Others present included the office of the Speaker of the National Assembly, members of the Commission for Implementation of the new Constitution, Ministry of Justice and members of the Kenya law Reform Commission.
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