The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairperson Erastus Ethekon briefs the media in Nairobi on April 30, 2026.

📋 Breaking It Down

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Erastus Ethekon has degazetted three nominated Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) in Kwale whose nominations were revoked by the High Court in 2023.

In a gazette notice issued on September 18, Mr Ethekon removed the names of Fartun Mohamed Musa (Orange Democratic Movement), Augustine Ndegwa (United Democratic Alliance) and Rachael Katumbi Mutisya (United Democratic Movement) from the marginalised list. The move comes less than a year before the next General Election is held on August 10, 2027.

The three had been serving as nominated members of the Kwale County Assembly and drawing salaries since 2022, despite the High Court nullifying their nominations on September 14, 2023. They have now been replaced by Agnes Otieno (ODM), Aaron Kennedy Kavuwa (UDA) and Nuria Huka (UDM).

📌 What You Need to Know

“The deleted nominees stand excluded as Members of the County Assembly of Kwale,” Mr Ethekon stated.

However, the amended gazette notice has left the fate of Mary Charles Kalinga hanging, who successfully challenged the nomination of Ms Musa, Ms Josephine Wairimu Kinyanjui, Mr Ndegwa, Mulki Abdullahi Adan and Ms Mutisya.

Ms Kalinga’s name is missing from the list of new nominees in the amended gazette notice.

Also missing are the names of the other people Ms Kalinga proposed as replacements, including Mwanauba Omar Mwaphatsa, Bakari Mwafrika Wakilesho and Luvuno Zawadi Jackson.

The publication of the gazette notice comes barely a month after the High Court in Kwale directed the IEBC to implement its 2023 judgment declaring the five seats vacant.

The dispute arose from a petition filed by Ms Kalinga challenging the nomination of Ms Musa, Ms Kinyanjui, Mr Ndegwa, Adan and Ms Mutisya to the County Assembly. In its judgment of September 14, 2023, the High Court found that the five had not been validly elected as nominated MCAs and ordered the IEBC to treat their seats as vacant.

📰 Source: Nation Africa