SUPKEM endorses IEBC nominees

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 12 – The Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) has said it supports the selection panel’s recommendations and President’s nomination that are now before National Assembly noting that they are confident of a team that earns the trust and confidence of Kenyan citizens to manage their elections.

The council has urged the National Assembly to expedite vetting of the nominees for a speedy reconstitution of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to be up and running to conduct pending by-election and embark on the delayed boundaries review.

“We affirm our support of and confidence in the nominees, we re equally concerned about the toxic political rethoric that has already greeted the nominees”, they said.

In addition, SUPKEM noted that while nominees will be facing vetting in the National Assembly if any has a problem with all or one of them they will have a chance to raise them.

They further appeal to all stakeholders and Kenyans at large to support the process and lend support to the nominees in order to inspire confidence in the expected IEBC.

“If our memory serves us right and from the Kreiger report we went into the 2007 general elections with an election management body that had been vilified to the extent that the tragic 2007-2008 post election violence was almost inevitable “, they further stated.

Furthermore, they recommend that as a confidence building mechanism in future recruitment of IEBC Commissioners the Judicial Service Commission does in the recruitment of judges by presenting one name for each position so as the president only perfom ceremonial function of announcing nominees so presented and submitting of their names to the National Assembly for vetting.

“The idea of the selection panel presenting multiple names from the president to choose from indeed does not inspire confidence and infant defeats the very purpose of constituting selection panel to do the recruitment “.