BY SAM ALFAN.
The Nomination of former Nyeri Town Member of Parliament, Esther Murugi and former Isiolo Women Representative, Tiyah Galgalo, as member of National Land Commission (NLC) has been invalidated.
Employment and Labour Relations Court Judge Helen Wasilwa the vetting of the two nominees by the National Assembly quashed was conducted in excess of parliamentary powers. The selection panel as constituted was incompetent but did not affect the outcpome of the process, she said.
Judge Wasilwa found that Galgalo did not have a tax compliance certificate and since she was nominated for a position she may not have been interviewed for, Parliament should not have proceeded to vet her as a suitable candidate.
“I note that it was in excess of its powers for Parliament to bend backwards and ask a nominee to go and get a document to qualify her for nomination when the duty of Parliament was to find out her suitability for nomination as presented. This was indeed improper exercise of parliamentary power, which should be exercised without regard to matters beyond its mandate to vet the nominee”, ruled Wasilwa.
Civil rights activist Okiya Omtatah had filed the petition challenging the appointment of the duo by arguing that the vetting and approval process in Parliament was a “total sham”.He had applied for the nullification of the nine nominees to the NLC, citing lack of due process..
The activist had said the constitution of the selection panel by the President was unconstitutional without inclusion of one set of stakeholders as prescribed by Parliament in the First Schedule to the NLC Act.
Omtatah accused the selection panel of conducting the recruitment exercise in an opaque manner and failing to publish the results of the interviews it conducted. He claimed that the panel recommended to the President the appointment of persons who were neither shortlisted nor interviewed for those positions.
