The National Dialogue Committee has achieved consensus on the reconstitution and restructuring of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) selection panel which was among the pending issues for discussion.
After days of steering bipartisan discussions on contentious issues, the National Dialogue Committee was back to the Bomas of Kenya on Friday to negotiate pending issues.
Key among them was the reconstitution of the electoral body IEBC’s selection panel. Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire and Minority leader Opiyo Wandayi, who chaired Friday’s session announced that the two sides had reached a truce.
“We have come to an agreement that we shall have a reconstitution of the IEBC selection panel and in this reconstitution, the membership will increase from the present 7 to 9 to encompass various shades of opinions and interest groups and persons,” said Opiyo Wandayi.
And on the thorny issue of auditing the results of the 2022 General Election, the committee opted to tread carefully only revealing that they will set proper frameworks for auditing elections
“We have agreed that we develop a framework on the audit of the electoral process that is going to be done in the next two weeks we should be able to have a clear framework about that,” added Mbarire.
So far the committee has achieved consensus on several issues ranging from the creation of the office of the official opposition leader and that of the prime cabinet secretary. The two-thirds gender rule and on political parties fidelity.
The committee, which has 15 days to finalise its work, will seek parliament’s approval for an extension by another 30 days.
Upon wrapping up talks at the Bomas of Kenya, the 10-man committee will retreat for a week to compile the final report
“We will be going for a retreat from the 23rd of this month and in the retreat we hope to clear on all the other issues and come up with a report that we can present to the relevant persons and hopefully complete our work,” said Mbarire.
The report is expected to capture the findings of the committee based on the submissions from stakeholders, members of the public, experts and professionals who appeared before it