During a courtesy visit by outgoing Acting US Ambassador Mark Dillard, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula expressed concern over the delay in reconstituting the polls body, IEBC, with barely two years to the next elections, owing to court cases filed by various individuals barring the swearing-in of the nominees vetted and approved by Parliament.
“We are running dangerously late in starting preparations for the elections in 2027, we are late for review and delimitation of boundaries for constituencies and wards, we are running late in enlisting voters, we have a huge young population who have come of age and have not registered as voters, they must enter the voters roll, our courts have said that we cannot interfere with the voters register atleast a year to elections, the commission also needs to clean up dead voters, this is a challenge,” the Speaker said
The Speaker acknowledged that while public perception of the poll body, IEBC, was low, there was a need to allow the commission to rebuild it by adequately preparing for the elections and sealing all the loopholes to a free, fair, credible and verifiable election.
“The selection panel finished its work, forwarded to the President, the president forwarded to Parliament, and we vetted and approved them for appointment, they have been gazetted, they have not been sworn in because of a court injunction, and the clock is ticking,” he further stated.
He added that it was crucial to have a properly trained commission to ensure the elections were smooth.
“Keeping eligible voters out of the voters roll is wrong, keeping dead people on the voters register is even worse, because we are in an electoral structure where we don’t trust each other. But as long as we have a strong commission, complaints will come, but eventually they will be vindicated by the Supreme Court, a good electoral commission can still deliver a credible election against many odds,” Wetang’ula said.
On 29th May, the high court issued conservatory orders barring the swearing in of IEBC commissioners until a petition challenging the nomination process was heard and determined.
President William Ruto had nominated Erastus Edung Ethekon as the next IEBC chairperson alongside Anne Nderitu, Moses Mukhwana, Mary Karen Sorobit, Hassan Noor, Francis Odhiambo, and Fahima Abdalla as commissioners.