Monday, September 13, 2010

Boundary body must wind up and go now, says Mutula

By Beauttah Omanga

A standoff over the fate of the Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission intensified with Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo insisting that the Andrew Ligale led team's time was up.

He said he stood by his letter to the IIBRC advising them to stop any further duties and instead pack and leave.

He said the law was clear as to who was to serve in that commission and advised those questioning his advise to read the law and "understand it".

"Many people voted for or against the new constitution but they now need to sit back and re-read the new constitution and all its provisions more so regarding interim commissions," said the minister.

He demanded for a joint meeting between him, the IIBRC Commissioners and the PM "to put the record straight on what the law says on the commission’s tenure’’.

"I stand by my letter. I am not withdrawing even a comma. The IIBRC’s time has elapsed and they should respect the law and leave," said the minister.

Talking to journalists in Nairobi on Monday, Mutula said he was not at war with the Prime Minister over the IIBRC’s mandate but "was merely interpreting the law accurately".

The minister was reacting to a letter written to him by Prime Minister Raila Odinga faulting his advise to the IIBRC to pack and leave. Raila and Ligale said Mutula had misadvised himself on the exact tenure of the IIBRC.

Mutula, in his letter, had advised the IIBRC to prepare to leave office and let a yet to be formed Electoral and Boundaries Commission to carry on.

According to correspondences between Raila and Mutula, the PM had directed the IIBRC to ignore the minister’s advice and carry on with their mandate until November 27, when their time will end.

In a letter addressed to Mutula dated September 3, the PM expressed concern at the ministers’ letter to the commission saying that the task of reviewing constituency boundaries lied with the yet to be formed Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and not the Ligale team.

On his part Ligale also wrote to Mutula telling him off insisting his team’s term in office was still on and that they were permitted by law to delaminate the boundaries before leaving office.

The PM, in his letter to Mr Kilonzo, cites Article 27(10 and (3) of the Sixth Schedule of the new Constitution which allows the Ligale team to continue discharging its mandate but without determining the boundaries of the 47 counties.

"Consequently, the commission is required by law to make, before the expiry of its term, recommendations to Parliament on the delimitation of constituencies, local authority electoral units and administrative boundaries," the PM wrote.

But on Monday Mutula said he had nothing personal against the PM, Ligale or the commissioners but was only interpreting the law.

The Commission has instead continued with its work with Commissioner Rosa Buyu saying they were busy working on the final phases of determining the new look boundaries.

"We are not at war with the minister that we are vowing to stay on. We are only working within the timeframe allocated to us as a boundaries review commission," said Buyu.

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