By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Kenya’s President has approved a new chairperson for the country’s electoral commission, along with new commissioners, a notice issued by the government has indicated.
William Ruto, elected in 2022, appointed the new chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, along with six commissioners.
The appointees, inaugurated Friday, will serve for the next six years, the notice issued late on Thursday says.
They took their oath of office at a ceremony presided over by Chief Justice Martha Koome.
Chairman of the commission, Erastus Ethekon is a human rights lawyer and previously worked as Turkana County’s top legal adviser. He has also worked with the United Nations Development Programme and the U.N. Resident Coordinator in Kenya.
Kenya will conduct the next general election in 2027, when Ruto is widely expected to seek re-election.
At the moment, the East African country’s leader is under pressure from street demonstrators who are showing resentment over the high cost of living, corruption, and police brutality.
Ruto suspended four election commissioners in December 2022 after they rejected his victory that year. The electoral dispute proceeded to the Supreme Court, which upheld Ruto’s win and rejected the commissioners’ arguments that the vote tallying process had been opaque.
The commission had been operating without a chairperson or commissioners since 2023, when the terms of the former chairman and the two remaining commissioners expired.
The appointment of new electoral commissioners, who are chosen by an interview panel and then submitted to the president for approval, had been delayed partly due to several legal petitions, which a High Court dismissed on Thursday.
“My first and foremost loyalty is to the people of Kenya who hold the sovereign power,” the chairman Ethekon said after being sworn in.
“I wish to assure Kenyans that their voices will not only be heard, but they will also count during the coming elections.”
Ruto, whose popularity has dwindled among young Kenyans, will likely have difficult time garnering the level of support that brought him to power in 2022.
He has urged his political opponents to be patient till 2027 and test their popularity at the polls, saying he will not be pressured to resign over the prolonged street demonstrations.
Ruto said any attempt to remove him outside the ballot will be resisted, ordering security forces to shoot violent protesters attacking businesses and government facilities.
