PREVIEW
Opposition leaders score a tactical victory by forcing out Electoral Chief Hussein Marjan on questions of technical competence
The embattled Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission faces another credibility challenge after its long-time chief executive Hussein Marjan was forced to resign after opposition leaders said they had no confidence in his impartiality.
Marjan joined the IEBC in 2015 and was CEO during the disputed 2022 general elections, won by a wafer-thin margin by William Ruto. The use of election materials supplied by Smartmatic company was highlighted by opposition activists in their questioning of the official results.
Ahead of the 2022 polls, Smartmatic won the tender for the Kenya Integrated Elections Management System at a hefty cost of $350m. The KIEMS kits were at the centre of claims by defeated candidate Raila Odinga that Ruto’s team had rigged the results by accessing the elections database (AC Vol 65 No 25, New alliances on shaky ground & Vol 63 No 16, Questions about the electoral referee).
Marjan’s decision to extend the contract with Smartmatic last year dominated a meeting with opposition leaders in late January. Hours later, Wiper Patriotic Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka posted on social media that they had ‘expressed strong dissatisfaction with the procurement process of the KIEMS kit and stated clearly that we do not want Smartmatic, a company associated with election irregularities in multiple countries, anywhere near the systems for the 2027 General Election.’
Musyoka, who has announced his intention to contest the presidency in 2027, added that the IEBC is widely perceived as a William Ruto commission.
On 4 February, Marjan confirmed that he would stand down but was silent on Musyoka’s claims. Elections operation director Moses Sunkuli has been named as interim chief executive for six months.
It is a headache that the elections body, which already faced a raced against time to prepare the elections after going two years without a chairman, commission and funding before Erastus Edung Ethekon became chairman last July (Dispatches, 14/7/25, Electoral commission gets fresh board after two years of inertia).
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