The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioner, Alutalala Mukhwana, has warned politicians involved in voter bribery, election violence, and other electoral offences that they risk facing strict scrutiny during the commission’s candidate vetting process ahead of the 2027 General Election.

Speaking during an interview with a local media station on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, Mukhwana said the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has resolved to document the conduct of politicians found culpable of electoral offences and use the records during the vetting of candidates.

According to the commissioner, although the IEBC no longer has the legal mandate to prosecute election offenses, it will work with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) to ensure offenders are held accountable while also considering their conduct during candidate clearance.

“Strictly speaking, bribery, corruption, and violence are not within our confines. What we have decided as a commission is that we are going to isolate those people whom we have charged and found culpable, and going forward, we are documenting their participation in the electoral process at every turn. When we go to the general election, there is a time for vetting, and that is when we will have a conversation,” Mukhwana said.

Electoral Offence Act

He explained that before the enactment of the Elections Offences Act, 2016, the commission had broader powers to handle election offences.

However, Parliament transferred the prosecutorial mandate to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

“We used to have that until 2016, but then the parliamentarians, in their own good wisdom and grace, changed the law and created the Elections Offences Act, 2016. Under that law, the role has been vested in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Although we are hamstrung in that way, some of the complaints we receive are criminal in nature,” he added.

Gikaria fined

This comes a day after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) fined Nakuru Town East Member of Parliament David Gikaria Ksh2.5 million over remarks he made while campaigning for UDA candidate Samuel Muchina ahead of the Ol Kalou parliamentary by-election.

The decision was delivered by the Commission’s Electoral Code of Conduct Enforcement Committee on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, following a lengthy hearing at which Gikaria had been summoned to respond to complaints arising from his campaign remarks.