Ezra Chiloba Simiyu appointed new IEBC Chief Executive Officer

New IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba's first assignment will be to oversee Homa Bay and Kajiado Central by-elections.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has appointed Mr Ezra Chiloba Simiyu as the Commission Secretary and Chief Executive Officer.

A statement by IEBC chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan to all newsrooms yesterday said that Chiloba was “the most successful candidate in the interviews.”

The new CEO who will steer the commission through the next General Election in 2017 is currently the Deputy Team Leader, DAI (Drivers of Accountability). He has previously served as Governance Analyst and Project Manager for UNDP Kenya.

He holds a Master of Arts degree in Public Policy from the Central European University and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Nairobi, and is a senior fellow at the Policy House and a member of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK).

Before the late announcement of Simiyu’s appointment, Hassan and other commissioners were held up in day-long interview sessions with the four candidates, including the current acting CEO Beatrice Sungura Nyabuto.

The position fell vacant following the suspension of James Oswago in August last year.

The four were picked by PriceWaterHouse Coopers from a short-list of nine candidates who had applied for the position.

The post of CEO was advertised in August following the suspension of the former CEO who was hauled to court on charges of abuse of office and irregular procurement of electoral kits by the IEBC.

Oswago, together with four other former officials, is accused of presiding over an opaque procurement process that resulted in the malfunctioning of electoral kits in the last general election. All five accused have denied the charges.

The interviews lasted late into the evening. The current acting CEO later spoke to The Standard and said she was waiting for the results of the interviews.

“I have been interviewed and we are waiting for the outcome,” said Nyabuto.

The first task of the new CEO will be to preside over the Homa Bay County and Kajiado Central constituency by-elections to be held next month.

The more critical task, however, will be to restore waning public confidence in the electoral body, which has taken a severe beating since the last general elections.

In August, a petition seeking the disbandment of the commission was filed at the National Assembly.

Although the petition was subsequently dismissed, recent allegations that a number of current and former officials were part of a cartel involved in underhand procurement deals with British firm Smith and Ouzman has done little to restore public confidence in the commission.

Wafula Buke, who petitioned for the disbandment of IEBC was yesterday quick to dismiss the appointment of a new CEO.

He said the appointment does not address the main concerns that had been raised in his petition with regard to the performance of the body during the last general elections.

Others interviewed were, Dickson Omondi, a governance expert and Erastrus Ethekon, a programme specialist at the United Nations Development Programme.