ECK team loses State cars, security

By Isaac Ongiri

The commissioners to the new Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) will be named at the end of February.

ECK chairman Samuel Kivuitu. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Constitutional Review Abdikadir Mohamed yesterday said the process of selecting the IIEC team, commissioners to the Interim Independent Boundary Review Commission and judges to the election and boundary commissions and judges to the Interim Independent Election Tribunal Court has started.

He spoke as it emerged ECK chairman Samuel Kivuitu and other commissioners had their security and official cars withdrawn hours after President Kibaki signed the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2008.

Internal Security Assistant Minister Orwa Ojode described the withdrawal as normal, adding that the security officers will be redeployed to other areas where they are needed most.

"Once an individual has ceased to be a Government official, the Government always withdraws security. But any Kenyan is at liberty to hire such services at prescribed rates," the minister said.

Ojode said the commissioners were enjoying 24-hour security with extra officers deployed at their Nairobi homes.

Public Service Minister Dalmas Otieno also said a taskforce appointed by his ministry will recall a small team of former ECK employees to facilitate transition.

"The taskforce is working fast, they will soon report to me. All Government properties under the ECK have been secured," Dalmas said.

Abdikadir allayed fears that there was a vacuum at the commission following the dissolution of the ECK on the eve of Christmas day.

He added the interim commission would use the existing register of voters to conduct elections until a new one is developed.

PSC, Abdikadir said, will spend the better part of January looking for a human resource firm to manage the recruitment process.

"We want the process to be very fair and acceptable, we shall make sure regional and gender balance are considered," he said.

Abdikadir said that the process of recruitment for the IIEC would be the same as that of the Interim Independent Boundary Review Commission and the Interim Independent Election Tribunal Court.

Cabinet ministers Musalia Mudavadi and James Orengo say the signing of the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill by President Kibaki is a milestone in the country’s electoral reforms agenda.

Speaking in separate Christmas celebrations, the ministers said the President’s move was the last nail in the embattled ECK’s coffin.

"The signing of the Bill by Kibaki would expedite the electoral reforms Kenyans were yearning for," said Mudavadi, who is also the deputy Prime Minister.

Mudavadi told a congregation at Bugina Friends Church in his Sabatia constituency that Kibaki’s move showed the Government’s commitment to reforms in the electoral body.

 

 

 

 

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