The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has appointed Ruth Kulundu as its acting Chief Executive Officer and Commission Secretary, effective Wednesday, August 5, 2026.
IEBC Chairperson Erastus Ethekon confirmed the appointment through an internal memo dated August 4, stating that Kulundu will serve in the position while retaining her substantive role as Deputy Commission Secretary for Operations. The Chairperson said the move is intended to ensure continuity at the Commission following the lapse of outgoing acting CEO Moses Ledama Sunkuli’s six-month term.
“The Commission has appointed Ruth Kulundu to the position of Acting Chief Executive Officer/Commission Secretary, effective August 5, 2026,” Ethekon said in the memo.
According to the Chairperson, Kulundu will serve for two months or until the Commission recruits and appoints a substantive CEO, whichever comes first. He called on IEBC staff to extend their full support to Kulundu as she settles into the office. “During this transition, the Commission requests all staff members to extend their full cooperation and support to Ms Kulundu to ensure our operations continue to run smoothly and efficiently,” he said.
Sunkuli, who will now revert to his position as Director of Electoral Operations, took over the acting CEO role earlier this year following the resignation of Hussein Marjan, who stepped down in February amid mounting pressure from opposition parties ahead of the next General Election.
Kulundu brings more than a decade of experience in election coordination to the role. She previously served as IEBC’s Regional Elections Coordinator in Nairobi and later in the Lower Eastern region, before taking up her current position as County Elections Manager for Siaya, a post she has held since 2017. During the 2017 General Election, she suspended campaigns in Siaya County for two weeks amid heightened political tensions, a decision credited with easing tensions on the ground.
She holds a Master of Business Administration in Strategic Management and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Nairobi, and is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute of London, the Insurance Institute of Kenya, and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators’ Kenya Chapter.
Her appointment comes just days after the IEBC opened applications for the substantive CEO position on July 28, with a submission deadline of August 11. The successful candidate will serve a renewable four-year contract, subject to satisfactory performance.
Kulundu’s tenure at the Commission has not been without controversy. In 2023, she was interdicted by then-CEO Hussein Marjan over allegations of gross misconduct and involvement in an unauthorised commission plenary meeting linked to the 2022 presidential election petition. A court later suspended the interdiction, finding that she had presented a valid defence.
