NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 15 – The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) has urged the electoral agency to expedite the hiring of a substantive Chief Executive Officer ahead of the August 2022 General Elections.
KCCB made the appeal on Wednesday saying lack of a substantive chief executive at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) could lower the confidence of key stakeholders in the agency’s ability to conduct credible polls.
“The process of hiring a new CEO must also kick off to ensure no room is left for doubting the competency and integrity of IEBC,” 23 bishops among them Archbishops Anthony Muheria and Philip Anyolo told a news conference in Nairobi.
The bishops urged the IEBC to address concerns that contribute to a trust deficit the institution has suffered from over time.
“It is unfortunate that the IEBC continues to suffer from a trust deficit. As it stands, the IEBC still does not have a substantive Chief Executive Officer less than a year to the next general elections,” Archbishop Martin Kivuva of the Mombasa Archdiocese noted.
The conference welcomed the recent appointment of four IEBC commissioners to fill slots left vacant following the resignation of commission members in 2017 and 2018.
Commissioners Juliana Cherera, Francis Wanderi, Irene Masit, and Justus Abonyo, who emerged from a list of 36 candidates interviewed by a selection panel, replaced IEBC Vice Chairperson Consolata Nkatha, commissioners Paul Kurgat, Margaret Mwachanya and Roselyn Akombe following approval by the National Assembly.
“We are glad that after a long wait, with the recent appointment of four new commissioners, the IEBC has now been fully constituted. A fully constituted electoral agency is expected to strengthen the electoral system and build public confidence in its work,” they said.
The bishops however expressed concerns by a section of politicians to hound some commissioners out of office saying the move would destabilize the electoral commission.
“There are already calls from a section of the political divide for replacement of the Chairman of IEBC, Wafula Chebukati and the ongoing exchanges on the push to remove the IEBC Chairman and three other commissioners is unhealthy and risks derailing the process of holding free and fair general elections in August 2022,” they said.
The bishops called on the commission to put in place mechanisms to ensure free and fair elections.
