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{
    "id": 150143,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/150143/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 298,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The legal position with regard to the nomination of councillors is provided for under the Local Government Act Sections 26 and 27 for municipal councils and Sections 39 and 40 for county and town councils. The responsibilities and powers of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) in the nomination of councillors is provided under the Local Government Act Cap.265 Sections 26(2), 28(2) and 46(2) (a) and under the Constitution under Sections 33(4) and 33(5). Mr. Speaker, Sir, under the above provisions, the ECK is empowered to apportion the vacancies amongst contending Parliamentary parties and inform them. The political parties are then solely empowered to nominate their candidates and forward the names to the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC). The IIEC then checks if these are duly qualified for nomination. The Commission, if satisfied with the information provided by the Parliamentary party, forwards the names submitted by the parties and vetted by the IIEC to the Minister for Local Government for publication of the nominations in the Kenya Gazette. The law then requires the Minister to appoint these same persons and gazette them. I want to state that the law does not permit the Minister to substitute or remove the names given to him through the IIEC. The IIEC wrote severally to my Ministry advising for the revocation of some councillors’ names for reasons that their nominations were unprocedural or their sponsorship had been withdrawn by their parties. Following that communication, the Ministry, through my action gazetted the nomination and revocation of nomination of some councillors on 6th August 2008. Following this action, some persons challenged the same in the High Court which in its ruling upheld the law that the Minister has the powers under Section 27 of the Act, to revoke the nomination of a councillor provided he follows the law. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the current Gazette Notices are therefore, meant to give effect to the powers of the Minister as reaffirmed by the High Court of Kenya in Nairobi in the Miscellaneous Civil Case application No.480 of 2008 which was the Republic versus the Minister for Local Government and experte Joel Mugesi. With other orders, the delivery of written notices of revocation have been done. Basically, they said, you could do it but you have to make sure that those people are served physically with the notices of that revocation. This is because previously, notices had not reached them and that is why the court overturned the Gazette Notice of 6th August 2008. Therefore, the role of the Minister with regard to the nomination of councillors was purely statutory. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I now want to point out a few other things. The legal position with regard to the term of office of nominated councillors is provided under the Local Government Act Sections 27 and 39, which provide that the term of office of nominated councillors is five years or such shorter period as the Minister may at the time of nomination, specify. My predecessor as the Minister for Local Government nominated councillors for a term of 14 months and 16 months, respectively. The assumption by the then ECK when forwarding the names to the Minister for gazettement of nomination was that such persons were to serve as councillors for a period of five years. Please, note that they had been gazetted to serve for 14 months to 16 months. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the criteria and principle for the nomination of councillors is the same as applies to nomination of Members of Parliament in terms of the amended Section 33 of the Constitution Mutatis Mutandis . Therefore, in the absence of any other"
}