State House spokesman, Manoah Esipisu, has maintained that President Uhuru Kenyatta is not keen on finding a replacement for former IEBC Commissioner Roselyn Akombe.
Speaking on Monday evening, Esipisu noted that replacing Akombe was not on the President's list of priorities at the moment.
"The matter is not among areas of priority for the President. So I won’t be able to tell you when the process will start,” the State House spokesman stated.
IEBC Act on replacing Commissioners who resign states: "The President shall publish a notice of a vacancy in the Gazette within seven days of the occurrence of such vacancy."
[caption caption="Secretary of Communication and State House Spokesperson Manoah Esipisu "]
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"Whenever a vacancy arises, recruitment of a new chairperson or member shall start immediately after the declaration of the vacancy by the President,” it further states.
The law provides that should the chairman or a commissioner of the IEBC choose to resign, they must do so formally in writing to the President, who will then declare a vacancy.
President Kenyatta is yet to declare a vacancy in the membership of the electoral commission three months after Akombe quit.
IEBC Vice Chair, Consolata Maina, maintained that the electoral body had written to Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua in December last year reminding him of the process but he was yet to respond.
Dr Akombe fled the country on October 18, 2017, citing security concerns before announcing her resignation.
[caption caption="Dr Roselyn Akombe"]
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This happened just a week to the October 26 repeat presidential election.
