Committee shortlists candidates for vetting board

Written By:Milton Nyakundi,    Posted: Tue, Jun 28, 2011

The candidates for the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board will be interviewed between 12th to 28th July The selection committee for the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board has shortlisted 11 candidates for the post of chairperson and another 26 for membership position. Lawyers Evans Monari, Bernard Mbai, Ojwang Agina, Joyce Majiwa and retired judge Benna Lutta are among those shortlisted to chair the board. Those shortlisted to fill membership positions include lawyers Mohamed Khatib, James Mwamu, Monica Mbaru, Elizabeth Wafula and Esther Tolle. In an advertisement published in local dailies today, the selection committee said the interviews for the shortlisted candidates will commence on 12th July to the 28th. It took two-time luck for the selection committee of the judges and magistrates vetting board to get enough applicants for it to shortlist candidates for post of chairperson and members to serve in the nine-member board that is meant to vet judges and magistrates by August 27th as required by the Constitution. The committee scrutinized more than 100 applications before inviting 11 candidates, 3 of them women, to be interviewed for post of chairperson and another 26 applicants to be grilled for suitability to serve as members of the board. Of the 37 candidates, 11 of them are women shortlisted for the 9 member committee to vet judges and magistrates. The selection committee will have seven days after July 28th to forward at least three names for post of chairperson and eighteen others to serve as members to the president; who in consultation with the Prime minister shall appoint the board with the approval of parliament. The law requires the President to send nominees to Parliament within seven days of receiving the names from the public service commission with Parliament expected to dispense with the business of approval or rejection thereof within 14 days and communicate back to the President in three days. With the interviews set for between July 12th and 28th, the expedition of the process of vetting judges and magistrates by 27th of August as required by the constitution will certainly be a tall order. The committee called on members of the public to avail any information relating to the applicants adding that the information provided will be treated as confidential.