Former Judiciary Registrar Anne Amadi has positioned herself as ready to make the tough decisions required of the IEBC chairperson.

Speaking on Monday, March 24, 2025, while appearing before the Commission’s Selection Panel, Amadi vouched for herself as the fitting profile to making the most important of decisions while at the helm of the commission.

During the interview, the lawyer referenced her past work under three Chief Justices, a tenure she argued groomed her with the dynamic needed for the high-pressure role.

Amadi, who has been an advocate of the high court since 1989 and oversaw the swearing-in of President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2017 and President William Ruto in 2022 as the registrar of Judiciary, expressed her intent to leverage her knowledge of the law and expertise in consultancy, civil service and private practice.

“I bring several skills. The IEBC chair position is a leadership position. It requires a lot of inter-relations across the board… I consider myself to be a unifier in my nature and character. Having had a lot of experience in high-pressure environments just being able to bring in the whole aspect of composure and gentile comportment,” she said

“It is a high-pressure position at times, there’s time when it gets really difficult. To be able to maintain that composure and to work with competence and taking into account what everybody’s interests are because eventually, it’s the chair to take a position,” Amadi responded when quizzed on what she would bring to the commission as its chair,” she continued.

Competing interest

Amadi also pledged to sieve through competing interests and reach a just and fair decision.

“A chair has to have high emotional intelligence which is a skill that I have so that you know what to do at the right time. You know how to deal with the emotions of others and understand when to push something and when to step back. You also now how not to overspeak under pressure or or operate in panic,” she stated.

Relating to possible mutinies within the electoral body such as those witnessed with the Cherera Four during the 2022 elections, Amadi underscored the importance of the chair reaching out with a view of maintaining a united electoral body.

“As a chair, it is your responsibility to take a key role in setting agenda. In so doing, you need to rally members around your vision so that the agenda is supported and people have a common view, and a shared understanding of the issue is all about. It also chair role to make sure we maintain good working relationships with each and every member of the commission so that even outside of the commission meeting there is a way of reaching out to commission members and forge a relationship that will help in moving the commission objectives forward,” she added.

Amadi’s comments follows after Narok Senator Ledama Olekina urged the Selection Panel to consider settling on a youthful candidate for the role of the IEBC chairmanship.

Speaking during a live interview on Monday, Olekina called for a paradigm shift in the process of electing the chair, stressing on the need for settling on an independent thinker with Kenyan interest at heart.

Olekina’s on new chair

 “For the first time, we must consider a younger person who has got the interest of this country and being united into the future. We have always been putting older people who don’t give a hoot about what happens to the next generation. We have never had an independent-thinking chairperson in the commission. We always had a person influenced by their political interest and affiliations,” he said.

The selection panel – led by Nelson Makanda- kicked off the oral interviews for the candidates for their chair position this Monday, March 24, 2025.

Over a total of 105 persons were shortlisted for the six vacant IEBC Commissioner positions with the chairperson slot attracting 11 persons seeking to replace the late Wafula Chebukati.

The interviews being conducted in Nairobi’s College of Insurance at South C will run until April 24.