IEBC picks Marjan to replace Chiloba as CEO

 The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has recruited its new Chief Executive Officer five months to the August 9 polls.

In a press statement read by Chairman Wafula Chebukati on Wednesday, the electoral agency picked its senior staffer Marjan H. Marjan to replace former CEO Ezra Chiloba who was sacked in 2018.

Chebukati who was flanked by other Commissioners said that Marjan emerged as the top candidate among five people shortlisted for the position. The position had attracted 511 applicants.

“Interviews for the shortlisted applicants were conducted on 8^th of March 2022 and Mr. Marjan .H. Marjan emerged top as the most qualified  and suitable for the position,” Chebukati said.

In January this year, the commission declared the position vacant and invited applicants to fill the top position which fell vacant after its previous holder Mr. Ezra Chiloba was sacked in 2018.  This was highly associated to a bad blood between him and the Commissioners over the 2017 general elections.

Marjan has been the Acting Commission Secretary cum CEO, a position he has held since October 2017 after his boss Chiloba was suspended.  Before his appointment to the acting accounting officer of the election’s agency, he was the Deputy Commission Secretary in charge of support services, a position he held since 2015.

Marjan’s promotion to head the commission leaves his former post vacant which the commission had advertised alongside that of the CEO. The interviews for the post are slated for Wednesday and Thursday next week. Ten applicants have been shortlisted.  

The appointment of the new CEO now might be seen as a major move by the commission in its readiness for the August 2022 general elections.

The Commission has already announced the calendar of major events ahead of the elections.    

STORY By PATRICK MUTUKU