IEBC receives a new list of demands as Church ‘goes to bed’ with political parties

Protestant churches yesterday called for the inclusion of political parties’ appointees to the electoral commission to address bias and suspicion among political players.

At the same time, they want the requirement of the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chair to be a law degree holder to be lifted, saying the position is not a preserve of lawyers.

Under the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), they held the independent model of appointing commissioners has failed to address the obvious danger that has riddled the country every election cycle.

“The conduct of 2013 and 2017 elections has brought into sharp focus the viability of the independent model of appointment of the commission as provided for in Section 7(a) and Schedule 1 of IEBC Act,” NCCK general secretary Peter Karanja said in a raft of proposals tabled at the Senate’s committee on Justice and Legal Affairs.

Canon Karanja had appeared before the committee during a public hearing of the Elections Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 and Election Offences Bill, 2018 at Parliament Buildings.

The amendment on election laws seeks to make compulsory all candidates to file self-declaration forms to the IEBC before they are cleared to contest.

While election Offences Act seeks to criminalise election contestants and their agents who refuse to sign election return forms.

Karanja said empirical research has established the fact that in politically divided contexts like Kenya, political appointments of the commission is crucial in mitigating problems associated by bias.

They now want Schedule 1 of the IEBC Act amended to provide for the procedure of appointing the commissioners reflecting on party strength.

“The political party commissioners should not be more than three of the seven and none of them should be chair or deputy chair,” he said.

Further, he pushed for the amendment of Section 7(2) of the Act to provide for part-time and full-time commissioners. In this case, he proposed that political party commissioners should be considered to be part-time with one other member of the commission.

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