Restore public trust to avert instability, CJ Koome tells new IEBC chiefs
She reminded the new team that their appointment comes at a time when Kenyans, particularly young people, are expressing frustration with public institutions
Chief Justice Martha Koome has urged the newly sworn-in IEBC chairman and commissioners to rebuild public trust and deliver free, fair and credible elections.
While warning that the stakes for Kenya’s democracy have never been higher, Koome said the role of Erastus Edung Ethekon and his team goes beyond managing elections as they are tasked with protecting the very foundation of the nation.
According to Koome, the oath taken by the newly appointed chairman and commissioners was not just a legal formality, but a powerful symbol of the trust Kenyans had placed in them.
“In you now recites the solemn responsibility to safeguard one of the most sacred rights in our Constitution, the right of every Kenyan to participate in free, fair and credible elections,” said Koome.
She reminded the new team that their appointment comes at a time when Kenyans, particularly young people, are expressing frustration with public institutions.
The CJ said the nation is in a period of reckoning, and public service must now be driven by transparency, humility, and a deep respect for constitutional values.
“The cry from every corner of our nation is for integrity, transparency, accountability, and justice,” she noted.
Koome urged the IEBC to confront and fix what is not working within the institution.
“Whatever you find not working and serving Kenyans properly at the IEBC, you must confront it, and you must fix it. This is why you have been given the mandate,” she said.
She also warned that disputed elections and past cycles of violence had left painful scars in the country, making electoral credibility a matter of national security.
“Elections are not just political events. They are national security,” Koome said, while calling on the commission to think about the economy and human rights behind every vote cast.
Referring to the IEBC’s independence, she urged the commissioners to resist interference of any kind and to stay true to the Constitution.
The IEBC team, comprising Edung, Ann Njeri Nderitu, Moses Alutalala Mukhwana, Mary Karen Sorobit, Hassan Noor Hassan, Francis Odhiambo Aduol, and Fahima Araphat Abdallah, has been sworn in after they were formally appointed through fresh Kenya Gazette notices issued by President William Ruto on July 10.
The High Court had on Thursday annulled previous notices due to procedural flaws but upheld the appointments themselves. It directed that the president regularises them, which did later that day.
