The High Court declared President William Ruto’s appointment and gazettement of IEBC nominees unconstitutional, ruling that he violated existing conservatory orders.
The bench, consisting of Justices Bahati Mwamuye, John Chigiti, and Roselyne Aburili found that the President acted in defiance of interim orders issued by Justice Lawrence Mugambi, rendering the appointments null and void.
However, the court upheld the nomination process itself, stating that there was no sufficient evidence to show that the selection of the nominees breached constitutional requirements.
As a result, while the names can remain as nominees, their formal appointment stands quashed due to the procedural irregularity.
Officials said that anomaly can be corrected by following the right procedure and issue a fresh gazette notice.
The court Court upheld Ann Nderitu’s IEBC nomination, saying her status as Registrar of Political Parties during application does not disqualify her nor violate the Constitution.
Eratus Edung Ethekon’s nomination as IEBC Chair did not violate the Constitution, the judges said as they dismissed claims of bias as without merit.
The court also dismissed bid to block Hassan Noor’s IEBC nomination over ties to Junet Mohamed, citing lack of evidence of undue influence or conflict of interest.
In its decision, the Court dismissed the substantive petition seeking to invalidate the appointments.
In light of this development, the legal effect is that the appointments, while substantively upheld, remain incomplete until they are properly formalised in accordance with the law.
The President is therefore required to issue a fresh Gazette Notice to regularise the appointments in compliance with the Court’s judgment.
Once this is done, the path will be clear for the Chairperson and Commissioners to take the oath of office before the Chief Justice and formally assume their roles at the Commission.
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