Monday, January 16, 2012

Karua urges state to hire registrar of parties



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NARC Kenya leader Martha Karua has called on the government to fast track the process of hiring the registrar of political parties saying the office was a key component in ensuring free, fair and credible elections. Karua regretted the government has neglected the process of appointment of the registrar when under the law the office is crucial in preventing election-related violence.
The process to recruit the registrar stalled after Parliament and President Kibaki failed to nominate panelists and a chairperson respectively within the statutory time. The statutory deadline for constituting the committee was November 14, 14 days after the coming into force of the Political Parties Act of 2011 on November 1.
Section 35 (1) of the Act provides that the selection committee be constituted in 14 days after coming into force of the Act. The Act came into force in November 1 last year. It was not until November 14 that National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende announced to MPs a list of 10 nominees submitted to him by the nominating authorities. Marende told MPs it was no longer feasible to meet the 14 days deadline owing to delay in the commencement of the selection process as well as the transmission of nominees' names to him.
Karua said the absence of a substantive holder of the office was interfering with constitutional and statutory timelines of the processes required in holding elections. “The government must finalise the process and ensure they provide all the necessary support to the office because having a free and fair election depends on the office.
Karua noted that the recruitment of the registrar of political parties must go hand in hand with reforms in the police service if violence is to be avoided during the electioneering period. “Police reforms will only roll out once the inspector general is appointed,” she said, while also calling for the fast tracking of the same. “The Inspector General must be appointed to spearhead reforms in the police service. The force must be de-linked from political manipulation. It must be well equipped with improved terms and conditions of service."

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