President William Ruto has instructed the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) selection committee to expedite the process of appointing a new IEBC chairperson and commissioners following the death of Malava MP Injendi Malulu.
Speaking at Malulu’s funeral in Kakamega on Tuesday, March 4, Ruto urged the selection panel to move swiftly to fill the vacancies in the commission.
“I have already approved the committee tasked with selecting new IEBC commissioners. I urge them to expedite the process so that we can have a new IEBC in place,” Ruto said.
“The people of Malava deserve the opportunity to elect their representative, and I am ready to assist in ensuring this happens.”
Malava constituency is one of several areas currently without representation in their respective legislative bodies, as by-elections have been delayed due to a lack of quorum at the IEBC.
At least 14 electoral areas, including seven ward seats left vacant due to the deaths of Members of County Assemblies (MCAs), require by-elections.
The Constitution mandates that by-elections must be held within 90 days whenever a vacancy arises in an electoral area.
However, the IEBC has been operating without a full commission since January 2023, when former Chairman Wafula Chebukati and commissioners Boya Molu and Abdi Guliye left office.
Four other commissioners Juliana Cherera, Francis Wanderi, Justus Nyang’aya, and Irene Masit were removed after dissenting against the 2022 presidential election results.
Under Article 89 of the Constitution, the IEBC is required to review constituency boundaries every eight to twelve years, with the last review taking place in 2012.
This means that the next review should have been completed by February 2024, but the absence of commissioners has caused a delay in this process.
In January 2025, President Ruto appointed the IEBC selection panel to oversee the recruitment of new commissioners, following a nearly three-year delay that was marked by political disputes and court cases.
After the panel was sworn in, it began calling for applications in February 2025 from qualified candidates through advertisements in the print media.
Meanwhile, the IEBC secretariat, led by CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan, has been limited to routine operations, such as staff training and procurement of non-strategic materials.
However, without a full commission, it cannot carry out essential tasks like boundary delimitation or organizing by-elections.
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