Petition seeks to bar panel from recruiting IEBC Chair, commissioners

Activist Bob Njagi has petitioned the high court to halt operations of the panel appointed to recruit the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman and commissioners because majority of its members are cronies of political parties who will not establish an impartial commission.

The petition was filed on February 4, 2025 by Njagi and his peers who argue that bipartisan political parties have captured the crucial electoral process by appointing five(5) out of nine(9) members of the panel.

They say it is necessary and in the public interests that the high court intervenes to avert further infiltration and capture of the crucial process which will undermine the independence and impartiality of the IEBC, and degrade its ability to conduct and deliver a free, fair, and credible election.

The activists say the composition and operations of the panel raise several concerns among them being that the political parties have dominated and are spearheading the IEBC (chairman and commissioners’) selection process, thereby creating a serious conflict of interest.

The panel consists of two(2) Parliamentary Service Commission nominees representing the majority party or coalition of parties and the minority party or coalition of parties in the minority.

There are also three members appointed by the Political Parties Liaison Committee representing political parties or coalition parties.

“Political parties generally take up the lion’s share of the membership of the IEBC selection panel with five out of nine representatives,” the activists say in their petition.

“Being involved and influencing the selection of the commission that will manage the elections in which the same political parties shall field candidates and have vested interests in their outcomes, makes it very likely that they will skew the selection of the commissioners in their favour.”

They claim the panel is going to facilitate the capture and control of the resultant commission by political parties and related interests.  

The petitioners include Free Kenya Initiative chaired by Mr Njagi, and activists Nicholas Oyoo and Felix Wambua. Others are Halima Sharif, Florence Kanyua, and Njoronge Wanjigi.

The activists say the panel’s activities raise various questions of constitutional significance because it appears to have sidelined Kenyans, private candidates and other equally important stakeholders.

They want the panel’s activities stopped pending hearing of the petition seeking to permanently bar them from proceeding with the exercise, is heard and determined.

They have sued the panel, Parliamentary Service Commission and the Attorney General as respondents. The chairman of the panel Dr. Nelson Makanda and the eight other members are listed as interested parties.

“Unless this honorable court intervenes and grants orders sought, it shall have countenanced gross violations of the constitution, effectively permitted the (panel and Parliamentary Service Commission among others) to continue with the wanton disregard for its (constitution’s) sanctity unhampered and therefore, sanctioned their trampling of the constitution and petitioners’ rights and fundamental freedoms unabatedly,” the petitioners argue.

The activists IEBC Amendment Act of 2024 which designated the “captured” Parliamentary Service Commission to facilitate the panel in discharging its mandate in departure from the previous dispensation where the facilitation was done by the Public Service Commission (PSC).  

The amended Act introduced considerable changes to the composition criteria for the IEBC selection panel. It also altered the rules of provision of secretariat services required for the discharge of the panel’s mandate, removing PSC and replacing it with the Parliamentary Service Commission.