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The Nairobian

IEBC 2022 flaws raised as Lorot interviews for chairperson slot

National

By Denis Omondi | Mar 24, 2025

**IEBC chairperson candidate, Abdulqadir Hussein Lorot, appears before the selection panel on March 24, 2025.** [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

IEBC chairperson candidate, Abdulqadir Hussein Lorot, plans to implement recommendations the Supreme Court gave to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in its judgment of the 2022 presidential election petition.

Lorot, who was the first to appear before the IEBC selection panel, says that among his checklist items will be a push for the increase of the constitutionally provided presidential election petition determination period of fourteen days.

The duration, he says, is insufficient for the parties involved.

“When we were drafting the Supreme Court election rules, balancing this period of fourteen days was very difficult,” said Lorot.

“How were we going to give parties time to file their documents to ensure that by the time the petition is ripe for hearing there is sufficient time,” he further posed.

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Chief Justice Martha Koome, and the seven judge Supreme Court bench she leads, has perennially found itself under immense pressure to deliver judgements on time in high stakes election petitions.

In its 2022 presidential election petition judgment, the Supreme Court found flaws with IEBC processes which it wanted addressed before the next election including its corporate governance, election technology, and review of some election laws.

The proposal for IEBC to have defined roles of the commission and the secretariat is meant to prevent open disagreement such the one witnessed when former IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati announced presidential results which were different from those announced by four other commissioners in 2022.

Lorot has vowed to keep the IEBC secretariat, the elections body’s operations and accounting arm, independent of the commission even as the panel raised questions on how the proposed budget of Sh62 billion to cover the 2027 general election will be accounted for.

“To reduce the conflict between the CEO and Chairperson on things like procurement, we’ll only give directions and oversight but the participation of the chair would be faulty and wrong,” said Lorot.

According to the Naivasha Law Courts chief magistrate, he is the best suited candidate owing to his involvement in the previous elections including solving elections disputes, offering training for other judicial officers on elections and contributing ideas to some of the rules courts use to determine election matters.

Despite being a state officer, Lorot argued that it did not disqualify him from the role, adding that he will end his 23-year career in the judiciary upon appointment.