The swift, brutal exit of the electoral chief exposes a high-stakes power struggle as commissioners turn on their own to cleanse the house before 2027.

The guillotine fell on Marjan Hussein Marjan not with a bang, but with a cold, calculated administrative strike late Tuesday evening. In a move that has sent shockwaves through the corridors of Anniversary Towers, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) CEO has been effectively purged with exactly 399 days remaining on his contract.

This was no mutual parting of ways, despite the sanitized press releases currently circulating in Nairobi newsrooms. It was a boardroom execution. The "mutual agreement" cited by Chairman Erastus Ethekon masks a week of high-octane drama, ultimatums, and frantic legal maneuvering that culminated in Marjan’s unceremonious exit. The decision to cut him loose, one year, one month, and six days before his term was set to expire on March 9, 2027, signals a desperate scramble by the Commission to shed the baggage of the past before the drums of the next General Election begin to beat in earnest.

The Naivasha Plot

The plot to oust Marjan was hatched far away from the chaotic streets of Nairobi. Sources within the commission have revealed that five commissioners were urgently recalled from a workshop in Naivasha on Monday afternoon for a crisis meeting that would seal the CEO's fate. The Vice-Chair was conspicuously absent, reportedly attending to "private matters," a detail that has only fueled speculation about internal fissures within the electoral body.

Inside the boardroom, the atmosphere was toxic. Marjan, sensing the walls closing in, had attempted a final gambit: a "negotiated exit." In a letter delivered to the Chairman on Friday at 5:00 PM, Marjan’s legal team demanded full payment of his salary through the end of his contract in 2027, along with compensation for all unused leave days. It was a golden parachute demand that the commissioners, under immense pressure from opposition leaders to clean house, were reportedly unwilling to fully entertain without extracting his immediate resignation in return.

The 2027 Calculus

The timing of this purge is not accidental. With the 2027 General Election looming, the IEBC is under siege to restore public confidence. Marjan’s tenure, though technically secure on paper, had become a lightning rod for criticism. Opposition chiefs have been baying for blood, demanding a complete overhaul of the secretariat as a precondition for participating in future polls. By sacrificing Marjan now, the Commission is attempting to buy itself breathing room and political capital.

• The Payoff Dispute: Insiders claim the "mutual consent" deal involves a significant, undisclosed financial settlement to prevent Marjan from dragging the Commission to court—a scenario that would air the agency's dirty laundry just as it tries to rebuild its image.
• The Vacuum: Marjan’s exit leaves a dangerous vacuum at the top of the secretariat. The hunt for a successor is expected to be fierce, with political heavyweights already lobbying to install a "friendly" accounting officer who will control the billions of shillings in election procurement tenders.

As Marjan clears his desk, the question remains: is he the problem, or merely the scapegoat? "You can change the dancer, but if the music remains the same, the dance will not change," a senior IEBC insider whispered late last night. For now, the Commission has its scalp, but the blood on the floor of Anniversary Towers is far from dry.