Members of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Selection Panel have promised to get a chairperson and commissioners in place in less than three months.
On Friday, January 31, the newly-appointed panel made strides by appointing Dr Nelson Makanda as chairperson and Lindah Kiome as vice chairperson.
The duo’s election occurred just days after members of the selection panel took and signed the oath of affirmation of office before the Chief Justice.
In a statement released on Monday, the selection panel stated that under Makanda’s leadership, they planned to resolve the uncertainty surrounding the commission within the next 85 days.
According to the IEBC Act, the selection panel must invite qualified applicants to apply for the position of commissioner.
All applicants’ names and qualifications are likely to be published in the Gazette, two national circulation newspapers, and on the Parliamentary Service Commission’s website.
While promising to provide regular media updates on the panel’s actions, Makanda also invited qualified Kenyans to submit applications.
“I also want to take this opportunity to extend my sincere gratitude to the media for the support they have given the Panel, it is through the 4th Estate that the public can hold us to account as we dispense our duty,” Makanda added.
According to the selecting panel’s forecasts, Kenyans should expect a fully operating electoral agency by May 2025.This will bring relief to inhabitants of eight wards across the country, including Kisa East Ward in Kakamega, Chewani Ward in Tana River, and Nyamaiya Ward in Nyamira.
Residents in these wards have been surviving without a County Assembly Member because no gazette notifications can be issued to facilitate by-elections in the absence of commissioners.
According to the Attorney General, this would be a flagrant breach of the Constitution.
Another crucial IEBC responsibility, boundary delimitation, has been put on hold due to a lack of commissioners, with the most recent boundary study conducted in March 2012.
The second review was intended to take place a decade later, in 2022, but it has yet to occur.
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