Kathiani MP Robert Mbui: IEBC chairperson shortlisting process is already rigged
Kathiani Member of Parliament (MP) Robert Mbui has raised concerns ahead of the interviews for the chairperson and commissioners of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), which kick off today.
The selection panel, led by Nelson Makanda, has shortlisted 11 individuals – eight men and three women – for the position of chairperson to replace the late Wafula Chebukati.
The candidates include former Registrar of the Judiciary Anne Amadi, former chair of the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) Charles Nyachae, and former Deputy Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Francis Kakai Kissinger.
Other candidates are Kenya Power Board Chairperson Joy Brenda Mdivo, former Turkana County Attorney Erastus Edung Ethekon, former Nairobi County Assembly Clerk Jacob Ngwele, and lawyers Robert Asembo, Abdulqadir Lorut Ramadhan, Saul Simiyu Wasilwa, Lillian Wanjiku Manegene, and Edward Katana Ngweywa, who is a person with a disability.
The selection panel has also shortlisted 105 other candidates for the six vacant IEBC commissioner positions.
The interviews will run from today until April 24 at the College of Insurance in South C, Nairobi. Nyachae, Amadi, Ramadhan, and Ngweywa will be the first to face the panel this morning.
At least two lobby groups have raised objections to Mdivo’s and Nyachae’s candidacies.
Speaking on Monday morning March 24, 2025, during a television panel interview, Kathiani MP Robert Mbui claimed that the IEBC selection process is already rigged.
Mbui argued that Kenya has a tendency to prioritize well-known figures over new candidates.
He insisted that lesser-known individuals on the shortlist have no realistic chance of being selected as the next IEBC chairperson.
“In Kenya, we always have this tendency to go back to the big names. And when I first saw the list circulating, the minute I recognized familiar names, I knew the process was already skewed—it is already rigged. One of those big names on the list will be chosen; I am telling you, it is already a done deal. There are some people on that list who are not well-known—they won’t have a chance, wait and see. Among the four names mentioned, one of them will be proposed as the chair,” Mbui said.
The Kathiani MP further cautioned the incoming IEBC chair, describing the position as a career killer, and cited the cases of former chairpersons Samuel Kivuitu and Wafula Chebukati, whose deaths, he noted, were met with public indifference or even celebration.
“I think this is a very sensitive position. We just lost the immediate former chair of the commission, and if you check social media, the comments were quite incredible. Many Kenyans were almost celebrating the demise of an elderly citizen. I remember when Kivuitu passed away—we attended the funeral. I had just been elected as a new Member of Parliament, and apart from my party leader, no other political leader came. It was shocking that no one else showed interest or participated,” Mbui observed.
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