Sunday, September 12, 2010

Raila and Mutula at odds over order to wind up Ligale team



chairman. Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo told the boundaries review commission that the new Constitution had made its work irrelevant in a letter dated August 31. Photo/JENNIFER MUIRURI By PETER LEFTIE pmutibo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, September 11 2010 at 22:00
In Summary

PM takes issue with the Justice minister’s letter telling the Ligale commission that its time is up in light of the new Constitution
Prime Minister Raila Odinga has overruled Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo over the latter’s directive to the boundaries review commission to stop work on constituencies and prepare to wind up.

According to correspondence between the PM and the Justice minister in possession of the Sunday Nation, the PM has directed the Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission (IIBRC) to fulfil its mandate, which formally ends on November 27.

The commission, chaired by former Vihiga MP Andrew Ligale, is mandated to review the boundaries of constituencies and wards.

Sections 41C(a) and (b) of the old Constitution provides that the commission shall be responsible for “making recommendations to Parliament on the delimitation of constituencies and local authority electoral units and the optimal number of constituencies” and “making recommendations to Parliament on administrative boundaries”.

In a letter addressed to Mr Kilonzo dated September 3, Mr Odinga expresses concern at Mr Kilonzo’s letter to the commission saying that the task of reviewing constituency boundaries now lies with the yet to be formed Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and not the Ligale team.

He also takes issue with Mr Kilonzo’s directive to the commission to “refrain from any major undertakings and new activities’’.

In his letter to Mr Ligale dated August 31, the Justice minister categorically asked the commission to stop any further review of boundaries because the mandate now lay with the yet to be created body.

Powers of delimitation

“Please be advised that the powers of delimitation and publication of boundaries of constituencies and wards under Article 89 of the Constitution relate to your successor body and not to you,” Mr Kilonzo said.

“In my aforesaid letter, I advised strongly that the commission should refrain from any major undertaking and new activities, including recruitment of new staff, procurement of additional equipment and financial commitments that do not relate to the preparation and completion of the report and winding up of the commission,” Mr Kilonzo goes on.

But in his response, Mr Ligale told Mr Kilonzo that the new Constitution allows the commission to continue discharging its functions until its constitutional mandate ends on November 27 – exactly three months after the promulgation of the new Constitution on August 27.

“The Commission has taken note that the provision in the new Constitution empowers it to carry on with its functions until the end of our constitutional mandate,” Mr Ligale wrote.

He added that the commission had revised its work plan to ensure it fulfils its mandate before the expiry of its term.

In his letter to Mr Kilonzo, the PM 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.

The clause says the commission shall determine the boundaries of constituencies and wards but in accordance with the provision of the new Constitution.

Mr Odinga also argues that the commission is not answerable to any authority other than Parliament.

“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 says.

“The commission is mandated by the Constitution to continue to function independently until the expiry of its term,” he goes on.

The PM also states that any constituencies recommended by the Ligale team shall be recognised and created after the dissolution of the current Parliament, so long as they do not exceed the 290 constituencies established by the new Constitution.

“I trust that there is now more clarity on this matter and that the commission shall move with speed to deliver on its mandate within its unexpired term,” Mr Odinga says.

Mr Kilonzo’s directive came just when the Ligale team was beginning to get down to its mandate after getting the new population figures following the release of the 2009 census results by Planning minister Wycliffe Oparanya.

The commission had been awaiting the census results to guide it in fixing the boundaries of constituencies and wards.

Mr Ligale had told the Press that his team would sift through the census figures and come up with a system of arriving at the 80 new constituencies which are to be created.

Census report

“Now that we have the census report, we will look at the figures and calculate how we will arrive at the number of new constituencies which are required to be created,” he was quoted as saying.

In creating new constituencies, the Ligale led team will be guided by the density of population and its trends, means of communication, geographical features and community interests.

The number of constituencies has been increased from 210 to 290 in the new Constitution.

Mr Ligale, however, said his team was likely to come up with more constituencies which require splitting based on the population quota that has been set as the guiding factor.

“We are likely to find that those constituencies that are to be sub-divided are likely to be more than 80.

“In the event of this, we will have to use our discretion to ensure that we don’t end up with all of them in one area,” he said.

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