Independent Electoral And Boundaries Commission Amendment Bill Assigned Into Law

By Samuel Ouma President William Ruto, on Monday, January 23, 2023, assented the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Amendment Bill into law. The bill was approved last week by the Senate during the special sitting. It sought to alter the composition of the Selection Panel that oversees the filling of vacant positions in the electoral agency. The signing means the allocation of the Parliamentary Service Commission will reduce from the current four to two out of the seven members of the Panel. It further allows the Political Parties Liaison Committee to nominate one member to the Panel. This means the Panel will consist of one member, each drawn from the Political Parties Liaison Committee and the Law Society of Kenya. The Parliamentary Service Commission and the Inter-religious Council of Kenya will each have two members. Wafula Chebukati, the commission's chair, and commissioners Boya Molu and Abdi Guliye's terms, which each lasted six years as specified in the constitution, came to an end on Tuesday, January 17, leaving IEBC without any commissioners. The other three commissioners, Juliana Cherera, Justus Nyangaya and Francis Wanderi, resigned after being suspended, and a tribunal was established to look into their actions on August 9, 2022, the date of the general election. Commissioner Irene Masit is currently fighting charges in the tribunal.