President Ruto Fires Irene Masit as IEBC Commissioner

President Ruto has terminated the appointment of Irene Masit as a commissioner of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

In a gazette notice on Wednesday, the president said he acted on the advice of a tribunal that was appointed to investigate Masit’s conduct during and after the August 9th, 2022, general election.

The tribunal, led by Justice Aggrey Mucheule, said the allegations of gross misconduct leveled against her were proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

“Having considered all the evidence tendered, the Tribunal finds that the allegations on serious violation of the constitution and the law... against Commissioner Irene Masit have been proved to the required standard,” the tribunal said in its report.

Masit was the only commissioner who faced the tribunal in a bid to clear her name after her colleagues Juliana Cherera, Francis Wanderi and Justus Nyang’aya resigned from IEBC before the hearings commenced.

The four commissioners faced allegations of serious violation of the Constitution and other relevant laws, gross misconduct, and incompetence after they rejected the results of the August 9th, 2022, presidential election, terming them opaque.

Masit denied all the allegations leveled against her, arguing that she was a victim of a political witch-hunt and that she acted professionally and impartially during the election.

But the tribunal dismissed her defense, stating that she failed to uphold transparency, accountability, and verifiability in her role as an IEBC commissioner. It also determined that she undermined public trust in the electoral commission by engaging in unethical behavior.