Former Head of Government Delivery Services Peter Mbae has hinted at a scheme to delay the ongoing process of reconstituting the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and the 2027 elections in the process.

Speaking during a live interview on Thursday, April 3, 2025, Mbae expressed concerns over attempts he believes are geared towards placing unnecessary hindrances to the process of seeking qualified personnel for the post of the chair and commissioners for the electoral body.

The interviews for the prospective members of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) started on Monday, March 24 with the panel set to sieve through a shortlist of applicants set to fill the vacant chairperson position and an additional six members to serve as commissioners.

With the process having initially faced bottlenecks arising from different litigations that saw the process lag behind, Mbae is reading mischief in the manner in which the process is being undertaken.

Constitutional crisis

 “The law says if we don’t have an IEBC by August we get into a major constitutional crisis. IEBC must be in place two years before the elections. Remember as we speak, there is a bill already in the Senate on the extension of term limits of elected leaders,” he said.

“If you play this and this together, could there be a plot by the system to extend this election by putting some roadblock on the constitution of IEBC, so that it’s not there and the six million Gen Zs voters do not vote and there is a whole issue about that? That is the fear that people have,“ he added.

Mbae who resigned from his position as the Head of Service Delivery Unit of the Kenya Kwanza government, has further faulted the deliberate disregard for the law that was witnessed in shortlisting for the various roles within the IEBC.

He further highlighted the possibility of trust issues emerging from the ongoing reconstitution process, citing the shortlisting of members already serving in the public sector at the expense of other equally qualified persons, a facet he stated would derail public trust in the entire process.

“This is what people are thinking. There are people who are deliberately put there in contravention of the law so that Kenyans can go to court and delay the process. Remember panel took over a year in court drama. Instead of doing the right thing from the word go, you put people who are questionable. The act is clear you should not have state officers for the positions. Once people have questions about the trust-ability of this process, it will be difficult to make them subject to the process,” he added.