Wanderi, Cherop among four nominated for IEBC jobs, await Parliament approval

IEBC candidate Irene Cherop when she appeared before the selection panel for the job at the KICC, Nairobi, on July 13, 2021. [David Njaaga, Standard]

President Uhuru Kenyatta has nominated four people to be members of the national polls agency.

The four are Juliana Cherera, Francis Wanderi, Irene Cherop and Justus Abonyo.

Uhuru received the report from the Selection Panel for the Appointment of Commissioners of the Independent, Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

In accordance with the law, the four will now seek the approval of the National Assembly. Parliament will consider the nominations and table its report within 28 days.

During her interview, Cherera told the panel she will prioritize the participation of minority groups during elections, should she succeed.

She told the IEBC selection panel that the top of her strategy will be to ensure inclusiveness during the election period.

“We will quickly do a crash programme…we will give the team 100 days to perform their duties. We will be very targeted at these teams and where they are. We will move to where they are, e.g if it's mama mboga, we’ll move to the market and register them from there,” she said, responding to a question on how to handle minority groups.

The applicant, who has served as an accounting officer at the Executive, was also taken to task on the matter of voter registration.

Cherera told panelists that IEBC should adopt a more seamless process of monitoring deaths of registered voters, through help from the civil registrar, to wade off questions and criticism every election cycle.

On her part, Cherop recalled her experience when she vied for Elgeyo Marakwet woman representative in 2013 and emerged number two.

She said there were delays and that nominations were postponed for a day, which she says was a recipe for rigging.

Cherop said electoral violence can be avoided if nominations were credible.

On the poll day there was a delay in announcing results, she added.

A total of 669 applications were received by the panel for the commissioner posts.

The vacancies arose following the resignation of four commissioners, leaving only chairman Wafula Chebukati, Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu in office.

The seven-member IEBC Selection Panel chaired by Dr Elizabeth Muli wa sitting at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC).