NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 26 – Former Nairobi County Assembly Clerk Jacob Ngwele has said he would petition for the removal of errant commissioners if wrangles arise within the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), should he be appointed Chairperson.
Defending his bid for the IEBC Chair position before the selection panel on Tuesday, Ngwele stated that he would invoke Article 251(1) (a-d) of the Constitution, which outlines the grounds for removing a member of a constitutional commission from office.
“That is an issue that must first be agreed upon by the Commission. Then, we can sign a petition to initiate the Article 251 process for the removal of a member,” Ngwele said.
He was responding to a question on how he would handle boardroom squabbles such as the one that saw then IEBC Vice Chairperson Juliana Cherera disown the outcome of the 2022 presidential election alongside three commissioners.
By law, a member of a commission (other than an ex-officio member) or the holder of an independent office may be removed from office on various grounds, including serious violation of the Constitution or any other law.
The inaugural Nairobi County Assembly Clerk further stated that drawing from his vast managerial experience, he would seek to resolve internal administrative disputes through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms.
ADR involves any procedure, agreed upon by the parties in dispute, where a neutral party assists them in reaching an agreement and avoiding litigation.
ADR
Ngwele added that his experience in both parliamentary and county assembly committees had shown that in-house, one-on-one engagements could also be effective under his chairmanship in addressing disputes related to integrity and conflicts of interest.
“The first step will be to pursue ADR. I have served in parliamentary committees where members have held one-on-one meetings,” he said.
Ngwele also noted that he would seek the intervention of relevant agencies in cases where a commission member’s conduct borders on criminality or violates the Election Offenses Act.
Ngwele is credited with establishing the office of the Clerk of Nairobi County from scratch in 2013 following the coming into force of a new constitutional dispensation in 2010.
The 47-year-old is among the thirty-seven candidates who initially expressed interest in the IEBC Chairperson position, before the list was narrowed down to eleven.
