Ruto bows to pressure, vows to constitute IEBC team in 10 days

President William Ruto has vowed to put in place a fully constituted electoral commission within 10 days.

 Addressing one of the fourteen demands raised by the Gen Z protestors last week during a televised interview with a local website, the president announced that he would appoint new electoral commissioners for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

 The protestors had demanded that the president reconstitutes the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) within 30 days to facilitate their move to recall all rogue Members of Parliament and hold fresh elections.

This has been a key issue in the ongoing nationwide protests marked by significant youth involvement.

 The president revealed that he had received a parliamentary report authorising him to appoint new commissioners.

Last week on Thursday, MPs passed on the proposal to change laws aimed at unlocking the crisis at the poll agency, stating that crucial operations have ground to a halt as the IEBC secretariat has limits within which they can make decisions on procurement and spending.

 Voters in Mandera, Banisa constituency and two wards in Western are yet to replace their MPs and MCAs when the seats have been empty for months. According to the constitution, whenever a vacancy occurs in the office of a member of the National Assembly, a by-election shall be held within ninety days of the occurrence of the vacancy.

 The Bill was approved in the National Assembly on Thursday, paving the way for assent by the President.

Once enacted, the president would be required to appoint a selection panel promptly, creating a panel of nine to enlist the new commissioners, increasing two from the current law.

The proposed law states that the current team would cease to exist when the Bill is enacted, although the members could be re-nominated.

The situation had drawn concerns from numerous sectors such as the National Churches Council of Kenya (NCCK) and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) calling for the reconstitution of the commission.  “We are playing a very dangerous game, if anything were to happen that would require an election to be conducted, then we would find ourselves in very, very difficult circumstances,” former LSK president, Eric Theuri warned earlier this year.