Search for IEBC Chairperson, commissioners kicks off in Nairobi

The 33-day process, which will be conducted publicly, commences on Monday and aims to fully constitute the electoral body.

Dr. Nelson Makanda and his selection team will oversee the much-anticipated reconstitution process at the College of Insurance in Nairobi.

The interviews will be conducted in phases, with the first segment featuring 11 candidates seeking to succeed the late chairperson, Wafula Chebukati.

These interviews are scheduled to take place between March 24 and March 26.

On Monday, the first batch of candidates will be interviewed, including former Constitutional Implementation Committee Chairperson Charles Nyachae, former Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Anne Amadi, Abdulqadir Lorot Ramadhan, and Edward Katama Ngeywa.

On Tuesday, the panel will interview Erastus Edung Ethekon, Francis Kakai Kissinger, former Nairobi County Assembly Clerk Jacob Ngwele, and Joy Masinde-Mdivo, the current chairperson of the Kenya Power board.

The final day of interviews for the chairperson position will see Lillian Wanjiku Manegene, Robert Akumu Asembo, and Saul Simiyu Wasilwa appear before the selection panel.

Following the chairperson interviews, an additional 105 candidates vying for the six commissioner positions will be interviewed from March 26 to April 24.

This rigorous process aims to establish a team that will, in the short term, oversee upcoming by-elections and, in the long term, deliver the 2027 General Elections.

The IEBC has been without a commission since the retirement of Chebukati and former commissioners Abdi Yakub Guliye and Boya Molu.

Their replacements will mark the first full reconstitution of the electoral body since 2022.

Among the urgent priorities for the new commission will be addressing the contentious issue of electoral integrity and conducting a comprehensive cleanup of the voter register, a matter that has been the subject of public debate in recent months.