Exit of IEBC officials close as Uhuru assents to election laws
What you need to know:
Mr Rotich told the 14-member joint select committee of Parliament that the Treasury did not anticipate an exit of the IEBC chiefs led by Issack Hassan and hence no money had been budgeted for their soft landing.
The stage is set for the exit of the electoral body commissioners after President Uhuru Kenyatta assented to laws reforming poll processes on Wednesday.
The laws — Election Laws (Amendment) Act — which brings out a broad range of electoral reforms, spells out plans for the orderly exit of the current officials of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and the procedure for appointing new ones.
“Following the passage of the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill through both Houses of Parliament, His Excellency the President has assented to the same,” said State House spokesperson Manoah Esipisu in a statement yesterday.
The move now shifts focus to the Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich who will be required to come up with an exit package offer to the nine IEBC commissioners.
It is estimated that the IEBC bosses will pocket a total send-off package of about Sh329.6 million based on forgone salaries of up to November 2017, allowances and annuity.
The commissioners are expected to take home on average Sh36.6 million each, based on the Business Daily’s calculations from the annual national Budget estimates.
Soft landing
Mr Rotich told the 14-member joint select committee of Parliament that the Treasury did not anticipate an exit of the IEBC chiefs led by Issack Hassan and hence no money had been budgeted for their soft landing.
“As at the time we were doing budgeting, there was no discussion that the IEBC commissioners will be leaving office,” he told the committee co-chaired by Senators James Orengo and Kiraitu Murungi. He said that should the embattled IEBC commissioners decide to leave office before the end of their term, the Treasury will spend part of the Contingency Fund that is available for unforeseen expenditure to pay them.
The select committee came up with two Bills, the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2016, and the Election Offences Bill, 2016.
The committee was established following sustained public protests by the opposition Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord), which accused the current IEBC commissioners of bias and incompetence.
The commissioners agreed to voluntarily leave office as long as they are given a dignified exit package. The officials are required to leave office once seven new commissioners are sworn into office not later than September 30, 2016.
Signing of the Bill into law sets in motion the process of recruiting new commissioners as recommended by the select committee.
