On February 3, 2026, the IEBC declared the resignation of their long-serving CEO, Marjan Hussein Marjan, which was unexpected. He left office through a so-called mutual agreement with the Commission, which ended a tenure that started in an acting capacity in 2017 and was formalized in 2022. Marjan presided over the hotly disputed 2022 elections. His resignation has been interpreted by most people as a clearing of the decks to restore confidence in the people before the upcoming polls.
Only 18 months before the 2027 General Election, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has entered a period of high-stakes transition. With a complete overhaul of the top leadership of Secretariat, the last shake-up of the Commission came following its reconstitution in July 2025.
Moses Ledama Sunkuli, the Director of Electoral Operations at the Commission, is the one who stepped in the eye of the storm. Sunkuli is very familiar with the company and a seasoned insider who was appointed the acting CEO on February 5, 2026. He is symbolically remembered because of the role he played in the 2022 tallying in Bomas where he was said to have fled into hiding during the confusion but surfaced after the findings.
The IEBC now has commissioners as compared to the years when it was functioning as a lone ranger, when the Secretariat had no commissioners. Under a new name, the new team took the oath of office in July 2025 under the chairmanship of Erastus Edung Ethekon and after years of legal and political wrangles.
The new leadership is not sitting in offices, but they are on a time mission. Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) has already been initiated by the Commission and is aimed at 6.8 million new voters, specifically Gen Z and first-time voters.
The shake-up is also, however, a reaction to the strong pressure of the United Opposition that had demanded a complete removal of the officials of 2022 to guarantee a referee without a biased interest in 2027. The new faces in the IEBC have no honeymoon as the enhanced mass voter registration will be in March 2026, and the boundary delimitation exercise is also coming. The effectiveness of this shift will see Kenya go into 2027 with a credible referee or a contentious one.
Why is this transition considered critical with only 18 months left to the 2027 General Election?
With only 18 months left, any stalling would jeopardize the election readiness, credibility, and trust of the people before the 2027 elections.