A Kenya Human Rights and Equality Commission will be formed if MPs pass a Bill proposing the merger of Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and Gender and Equality Commission.
Currently, the two are independent entities.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2020, sponsored by Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni, will see the creation of a new Commission to be known as Kenya Human Rights and Equality Commission.
It seeks to repeal the Act that established the National Gender and Equality Commission.
In the proposed changes, the KNCHR chairperson will retain the seat, deputised by the current chair of the NGEC.
The Committee on the Implementation of the Constitution says the fresh merger will be in line with Article 59 of the supreme law.
The tenures in the new arrangement shall be for the chairperson’s and deputy chairpersons’ unexpired terms in office.
The appointment of new commissioners for the established entity will be done four months before the current commissioners’ terms end.
The Constitution mandates the to-be-established entity to promote human rights and gender equity as mainstreamed in national development.
“Any person who is a member, officer or employee of the NGEC shall be an officer of the commission in the same terms s/he was in the same capacity,” the Kioni Bill reads.
NGEC and KNCHR members shall become members of the commission for the remainder of their term effective from the commencement of the Act.
KNCHR and NGEC were established in 2011. KNHRC Act defines the entity as an autonomous national human rights institution, taking after the one that was under the 2002 Act.
Earlier attempts to merge the two were met with opposition, the latest in 2018 when the Senate attempted the same.
In 2014, a committee was formed by the Attorney General to iron out the differences between the agencies after Parliament restructured the KNHREC into KNCHR, NGEC and Commission on Administrative Justice.
The Ombudsman will not be affected by the changes and will continue carrying out its mandate.
The agency investigates improper or prejudicial conduct of any state organs and officers as well as abuse of power.
Kioni said the functions of both the KNHRC and NGEC can be performed by one entity.
“The effectiveness of both the institutions will be streamlined and this will be cheaper to the taxpayer,” Kioni said, adding: “There were no marked and diametrical differences in functions between two institutions since gender issues fall within the sphere of human rights.”
KNHRC commissioners’ terms ended last week, meaning the incoming team will be likely the ones who’d steer the merger.
Outgoing chairperson Kagwiria Mbogori welcomed the merger proposal and called for further talks to ensure a smooth transition.
“The terms and logistics should be discussed, negotiated and process mediated to ensure a successful merger,” she told the Star.
Lawyer George Kegoro blamed mandarins at the defunct Justice ministry for frustrating earlier bids to merge the bodies.
This was in 2012 and 2013 when KHRC and other partners ran a campaign for an all-inclusive Human Rights and Equality Commission as per Article 59.
“We lost this because the mandarins at the Justice ministry felt a single commission would be too powerful and threatening.
“Now that they have come round to our position, we are prepared to sit and talk to them,” Kegoro said.
The gender commission was yet to comment on the development by press time.
However, at a meeting with the Senate in 2018, NGEC officials said that a merger would weaken the commission’s watchdog function.
The agency’s position was that their roles are clearly defined and a “merger would pose a great danger to service delivery”.
Should the Bill sail through, President Uhuru Kenyatta will be expected to create a selection panel as outlined in the current KNCHR Act.
Representatives of the Office of the President, Gender ministry, Public Service Commission, Law Society of Kenya, and PWDs form the panel.
The panel presents three names for the President to select a chairperson and eight qualified as members from which the President is to pick four.
