Names Forwarded to Parliament for vetting before appointment
President Uhuru Kenyatta has nominated Francis Wanderi, Justus Abonyo, Juliana Cherera and Irene Cherop to be IEBC Commissioners. The President has forwarded the 4 names to the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee of the National Assembly chaired by Kangema MP Muturi Kigano for vetting.
The President picked the 4 names from among 8 names submitted to him to fill the four positions left vacant following the exit of Roselyne Akombe, Paul Kurgat, Connie Maina and Margaret Mwachanya after the contested 2017 General Elections.
Sources told Nyanza Daily that the eight names submitted to the President had attained between 65 to 75 marks. The Elizabeth Muli led selection panel shortlisted 36 applicants who were subjected to a psychometric test after which they were subjected to a televised live oral interviews conducted between July 7-23 after one candidate withdrew over questionable academic paperwork.
1.Juliana Cherera: Juliana Cherera is an accounting officer at the Mombasa county government. During her interview she said the covid19 pandemic would be enough reason to postpone next year’s elections elections.
2. Justus Abonyo Nyan’gaya: Justus Abonyo Nyangaya is the former country Director of Amnesty International in Kenya. Abonyo was also the former Chairman of the Social Democratic Party formerly associated with Kisumu Governor Prof Anyang Nyong’o. During the interviews Abonyo said the country should consider adopting blockchain technology, which would reduce the cost of running an election by up to 300 per cent
3. Irene Cherop Masit: She is a board member with the National Government Constituency Development Fund who once vied for Women’s Representative in the 2017 General Elections. During her interviews Irene said the IEBC should oversee political party primaries to ensure credible nomination of candidates.
4. Francis Wanderi: Francis Wanderi is a former Chairman of the Export Processing Zones Authority. During the interviews he proposed measures to tackle voter bribery and advocated for simultaneous voter registration during issuance of Identity cards by the Registrar of Persons.
