There is need for the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to be mandated or get involved in helping political parties carry out nominations in order to have credible and verifiable nominations.
Defence CS Eugene Wamalwa has said political parties’ nominations were important vehicles of electing contestants into office, thus the challenges witnessed in some areas of the country, during the recent party nominations could be a precursor of choosing bad leaders.
“A bungled nomination exercise means deserving leaders could miss out on opportunity to serve Kenyans,” he said.
It’s worth noting that the recent political party nominations were marred with chaos and confusion in various areas of the country, with people being injured and nomination material destroyed by those disgruntled by the exercise.
However, with good systems in place right from political party nominations, we can avoid some of the chaos that have been experienced in some of the counties which has left wananchi suffering and yearning for services,” added Wamalwa.
The CS was speaking in Naivasha Thursday when he officially launched an induction workshop for Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee (IGRTC) and its staff.
Towards this end, Wamalwa who is also the Ag. CS for Devolution said the ministry in collaboration with various stakeholders will continue looking for and identifying various laws, especially those governing devolution so that it can continue benefitting the ordinary mwananchi.
The CS said despite the emerging challenges, devolution was working for the country and people were now reaping its benefits and called on Kenyans to be wiser during the forthcoming general election in order to elect into office people of integrity who will take the counties forward.
“If we choose our leaders wisely, we can avoid the chaotic scenes that have been witnessed in some of our counties in the past,” said Wamalwa, adding that some of the counties had done so well, becoming shining examples to the rest.
In his remarks, Devolution PS Julius Korir said there was need to review devolution policy frameworks for the last decade to ensure key policy gaps in its implementation are addressed in its next phase.
On his part, the new IGTRC Chair Kithinji Kiragu said devolution has worked for the country and underscored the need to render more support to devolved units in order for them to deliver on their mandates and also strengthen and stabilize key devolved frameworks for Kenya to achieve Vision 2030 target.
Kithinji also called for enhancement of IGTRC capacity and the necessary institutional support to enable the body deliver on its mandate.
He called for political goodwill from leaders to enable IGTRC work effectively, with a view to ensuring a smooth transition process into the next government after August 9 general election.
The Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee is a body formed by an Act of Parliament to establish a framework for consultation and co-operation between the national and county governments and amongst county governments.
It was further mandated to take over the residual functions of the defunct Transition Authority as envisaged under section 12 (b) of the IGR Act.
By Mabel Keya
