On August 4, 2026, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) appointed Ruth Kulundu as its Acting Commission Secretary and Chief Executive Officer.
IEBC Chairperson Erastus Ethekon said Kulundu’s appointment would take effect on August 5, 2026, for a period of two months, or until the recruitment and appointment of a substantive Commission Secretary and CEO is completed, whichever comes first.
She succeeded Moses Ledama Sunkuli, whose six-month tenure as Acting Commission Secretary and CEO came to an end.
Ruth Kulundu Career Background
Ruth Kulundu is a Kenyan elections management expert and public administrator with 27 years of professional experience spanning both the private and public sectors.
She has built an extensive career in electoral management, organizational leadership and strategic administration, with more than 12 years of experience overseeing election operations at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Before taking up the role, she served as Regional Elections Coordinator in Nairobi from 2009 to 2012, in the Lower Eastern region from 2013 to 2015, and again in Nairobi from 2016 to May 2017, where she coordinated election planning and operations across multiple counties.
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Ruth Kulundu has been serving as the County Elections Manager for Siaya County, a position she has held since May 2017.
One of the defining moments of her career came during the 2017 General Election, when she suspended election campaigns in Siaya County for two weeks following heightened political tensions.
The decision, which she said helped save lives and manage expectations on the ground, marked the first and only time a Returning Officer had suspended election campaigns in Kenya since the country’s independence in 1963.
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Educational Background
Kulundu holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Strategic Management and a Bachelor of Commerce (Upper Second Class Honours) from the University of Nairobi.
While pursuing her undergraduate studies, she served as Organizing Secretary of the Nairobi University Insurance Students Association (NUISA).
She also holds several professional qualifications, including:
- Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute of London (ACII);
- Associate of the Insurance Institute of Kenya (AIIK); and
- Associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Kenya Chapter).
Skills in the IEBC
Throughout her career, Kulundu has specialized in election administration, strategic management, stakeholder engagement and organizational leadership.
Her expertise includes elections management, people management, stakeholder management, risk management, project coordination and special events coordination.
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