For IEBC, Kenya must never win an election and lose public trust

IEBC Chairman Erastus Ethekon addresses the Press on mass voter registration in Nairobi, on February 4, 2026. [File, Standard

Last weekend, I experienced one of the greatest privileges a father can have. I walked my daughter Michelle down the aisle as she began a new chapter with her husband, Michael.

Amid the joy, prayers and celebration, one question quietly settled in my heart and has refused to leave me since: What kind of country are we preparing for our children?

Every parent hopes to leave behind something better than what they inherited. We work hard to educate our children, build businesses, grow trees and create opportunities. Yet all these achievements become fragile if we fail to protect the institutions that hold our nation together.

That is why the recent warning from the Chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Erastus Ethekon, deserves the attention of every Kenyan, regardless of political persuasion.

When the constitutional referee entrusted with protecting the sovereign voice of the people warns that an election may have to be postponed or even canceled because its integrity is under threat, we should all pause.

It is no longer merely an Ol Kalou issue. It is a national issue. It is a warning about the country we are preparing to hand over to our children. Reports cited by the Commission include violence, voter bribery, intimidation, misinformation, and other breaches of the Electoral Code of Conduct. These are not ordinary campaign tactics; they are direct assaults on public trust. As I reflected on this, one thought kept returning to my mind. The most important candidate on every ballot is public trust. Public trust is the only candidate that must win every election, regardless of who occupies State House tomorrow.

Every election produces two winners: the successful candidate and public trust. If public trust is lost, everyone loses. When citizens stop trusting elections, they begin to trust other ways of changing governments.

Ultimately, it does not matter who wins the Ol Kalou by-election if Kenyans walk away believing the process was manipulated. Democracies are not sustained by ballot boxes alone. They are sustained by the confidence that every vote counts and every citizen matters. An election is truly won when those who lose still believe the process was fair.

Another lesson from this by-election should also challenge us. Development should never be seasonal. Roads, electricity, water, schools, and hospitals belong to citizens, not to political parties.

Communities should receive development before, during, and after elections because development is a right of citizenship, not a reward for political timing. Let every project continue. The only question Kenyans should ask is not “Why now?” but “Why not much earlier?”

We are also entering Kenya’s first true Artificial Intelligence election. AI can educate voters, compare policies, and improve public debate. That is progress. But it can also manufacture convincing lies faster than the truth can catch up. Our challenge is no longer only electoral integrity; it is informational integrity. Technology should serve truth, never replace it.

We should welcome innovation while refusing to surrender truth. Perhaps the greatest lesson applies equally to those in government and those in opposition.

Every generation vows to clean up politics, yet many succumb to the same temptations once power changes hands. The real opponent is not always another political party. Sometimes it is a political culture that rewards victory over integrity. Kenya deserves better than a change of faces while preserving bad habits.

As I watched my daughter begin her new journey, I realised that every generation eventually hands something down to the next. Parents hand down values. Teachers hand down knowledge. Leaders hand down institutions. Citizens hand down a nation. Nations are inherited exactly as previous generations leave them.

May we hand over a nation whose elections are fiercely contested, whose institutions are fiercely protected, and whose democracy is fiercely trusted. In the end, the greatest victory will never be who wins the election. When public trust wins, Kenya wins, regardless of who forms the next government. Think green. Act green.

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