{"id":117900,"date":"2025-07-11T07:03:36","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T07:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/07\/11\/edung-ethekon-to-take-oath-as-iebc-chairperson-on-friday\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T07:03:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T07:03:36","slug":"edung-ethekon-to-take-oath-as-iebc-chairperson-on-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/edung-ethekon-to-take-oath-as-iebc-chairperson-on-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"Edung Ethekon to take oath as IEBC Chairperson on Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 11 \u2014 Erastus Edung Ethekon is set to take oath as Chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) later on Friday, alongside six commissioners, following the regularization of their appointments by President William Ruto.<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Ruto re-gazetted the appointments in a special issue of the Kenya Gazette dated July 10, after a High Court ruling on Thursday quashed earlier gazettements but gave the green light for the appointments to be lawfully reissued.<\/p>\n

Ethekon will serve as Chairperson for a six-year term alongside commissioners Ann Njeri Nderitu, Moses Alutalala Mukhwana, Mary Karen Sorobit, Hassan Noor Hassan, Francis Odhiambo Aduol and Fahima Araphat Abdallah.<\/p>\n

Although the Judiciary did not confirm the timing, a source indicated the inaugration of the commission, tradionally held at the Supreme Court, may be conducted by noon.<\/p>\n

The swearing-in of the newly-appointed commissioners follows a ruling by Justices Roselyne Aburili, John Chigiti, and Bahati Mwamuye, who found that Gazette Notices No. 7724 and 7725\u2014issued on June 10\u2014violated interim conservatory orders issued on May 29. <\/p>\n

Legally sound <\/h2>\n

The court, however, dismissed a constitutional petition challenging the selection and vetting of the appointees, ruling that the process was legally sound despite the procedural misstep in timing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gazette Notices were quashed for being published in contravention of the Court\u2019s interim conservatory orders,\u201d the judges ruled. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the appointing authorities are at liberty to take appropriate constitutional steps to regularize the appointments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court\u2019s decision clears the way for the new commissioners to formally assume office, ending weeks of legal uncertainty. <\/p>\n

Activists Kelvin Roy Omondi and Boniface Mwangi had contested the appoitments in a petition filed on May 13 terming the nomination process flawed.<\/p>\n

The Justice Aburili-led bench however ruled that the claims lacked merit and did not meet the threshold required to nullify the selection, nomination, and vetting of the seven appointees.<\/p>\n

\u2018Partisan appointments\u2019<\/h2>\n

Opposition figures aligned with Kalonzo Musyoka\u2019s United Opposition<\/em> coalition had contested the reconstitution of the IEBC, accusing President Ruto of partisanship.<\/p>\n

Musyoka criticized the process for lacking broad-based consultations among key political stakeholders, warning that it undermined public trust and signaled a possible scheme to rig future elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are extremely concerned that Ruto chose to be partisan by ignoring the principle of consultation and concurrence in his recommendations of the chairperson and members of the IEBC,\u201d Musyoka said on May 9, a day after the President submitted the nominees to Parliament for approval.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis action has automatically created a low-trust institution,\u201d the former Vice President warned, accusing Ruto of plotting to rig the 2027 General Election and upcoming parliamentary by-elections.<\/p>\n

The IEBC commissioner positions became vacant on January 16, 2023, when former Chairperson Wafula Chebukati and commissioners Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu concluded their six-year terms.<\/p>\n

Four other commissioners had earlier exited following an inquiry into their conduct during the 2022 presidential election, when they disputed the outcome and called for a re-run.<\/p>\n

Then Vice Chairperson Juliana Cherera, along with commissioners Irene Masit, Justus Nyang\u2019aya, and Francis Wanderi, held a dramatic parallel press conference after storming out of the National Tallying Centre, where Chebukati was preparing to announce the results.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 11 \u2014 Erastus Edung Ethekon is set to take oath as Chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) later on Friday, alongside six commissioners, following the regularization of their appointments by President William Ruto. President Ruto re-gazetted the appointments in a special issue of the Kenya Gazette dated July 10, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117900\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}