President William Ruto has issued a new Gazette notice to formally appoint Erastus Ethekon as the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairperson, alongside six new commissioners, just hours after the High Court nullified the previous appointment notice.
This move comes after a three-judge bench ruled on Thursday evening that the earlier Gazette notice was unlawful, citing that it was published while a petition challenging the IEBC selection process was still active in court.
With the new Gazette notice now in effect, the seven appointees only await their swearing-in ceremony to officially assume office and restore the IEBC’s full functionality, which has been vacant since January 2023 following the mass resignation and end of term of previous commissioners.
President Ruto’s latest action now clears the legal hurdle that had stalled the transition of power within the electoral commission.
The High Court ruling that triggered the latest development came after civil society groups and petitioners argued that the appointment process had procedural irregularities and lacked public participation. The judges agreed that the Executive prematurely published the appointments before the legal contestation was concluded.
As a result, the court ruled that the June Gazette notice was invalid, pushing President Ruto to issue a corrective Gazette notice dated July 11, 2025.
While the full list of the seven appointees remains unchanged, their official onboarding was reset by the legal quagmire. They include:
- Erastus Ethekon – Chairperson
- Six other commissioners whose names are expected to be formally confirmed during the swearing-in process
