Malindi court halts IEBC CEO recruitment, suspends interviews for nine candidates

The Employment and Labour Relations Court in Malindi has suspended the recruitment of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Secretary/Chief Executive Officer, halting interviews scheduled for November 12 and 13.

In his ruling, Justice J.N. Abuodha, on Wednesday, November 5, 2026, issued temporary conservatory orders in a petition filed by Thomas Kennedy Balala against IEBC Chairperson Erastus Edung Ethekon, the Commission and 11 others.

In ELRCPET/E005/2026, the judge certified the petition as urgent and granted conservatory orders under Prayers 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the Notice of Motion dated November 5.

The orders will remain in force pending the inter partes hearing scheduled for 17 November 2026.

The court’s intervention halts the interviews of nine shortlisted candidates that had been scheduled for 12 and 13 November 2026. The candidates are: Anthony Omerikwa, Halakhe Waqo, Harley Mutisya, Edmund Odiwuor Malitt and Andrew Gitau Kimani.

Others include Mohamed Abdullahi Abdi, Edward Katama Ngeywa, Martina Wato Yattani
and Nelly Ilongo.

The Malindi ruling comes amid a separate constitutional petition filed at the High Court in Nairobi by Dr. Augustus Kyalo Muli on Thursday 4th November, 2026.

Justice R.E. Aburili declined to certify the matter as extremely urgent for ex-parte consideration and directed that it be mentioned on November 11, 2026.

Dr. Muli’s petition challenged the IEBC’s decision to engage KPMG Advisory Services Limited to undertake what the Commission described in its statement of 30 October 2026 as ‘end-to-end recruitment including advertisement, receipt, longlisting, verification and shortlisting.’

The petition raised constitutional questions concerning the independence and mandate of the Commission, particularly under Article 250(12) of the Constitution of Kenya and Section 10 of the IEBC Act.

He questioned whether the delegation of these recruitment functions to an external consultancy is consistent with the constitutional and statutory framework governing appointments to the Commission’s secretariat.

Dr. Muli has also invoked Article 35 of the Constitution, seeking access to critical documents relating to the recruitment, including: The contract between IEBC and KPMG Advisory Services Limited, the recruitment scoring matrix, the resolution of the Commission authorising the engagement and the fees and financial terms of the consultancy arrangement.

Welcoming the development in Malindi, Dr Augustus Kyalo Muli said: “We welcome the Malindi orders. They confirm prima facie urgency. However, since IEBC contests ELRC jurisdiction over Article 250(12) appointments, we will still urge the Constitutional Court in Nairobi on 11 November to grant sustainable protection.”

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