Court Halts IEK Council Elections Again

The High Court has issued a conservatory order stopping the Institution of Engineers of Kenya (IEK) from conducting its 2026-2028 Council elections, just four days before voting was due to open.

The order came in a petition filed by Musa Kulubi Osieko against the Institution of Engineers of Kenya, its Caretaker Committee and the Registrar of Societies, in Milimani High Court Petition E480 of 2026.

Justice David Mburu certified the application as urgent on July 23 and restrained the Institution, its Caretaker Committee, scrutineers, agents and employees from opening balloting, conducting, progressing or finalising the election scheduled to begin on Monday, July 27.

The order remains in force pending further directions, with the matter set for an inter partes hearing on July 27.

The election process traces back to a separate legal dispute over IEK's governing constitution. In a letter dated March 12, 2026, the outgoing IEK President Eng. Shammah Kiteme informed members that the Council elections, originally scheduled for March 23, had been cancelled in compliance with a High Court order issued on February 12 by Justice Lawrence Mugambi in Petition HCCHRPET/E853/2025, filed by Eng. Dennis Barongo Nyagwoka.

That petition challenged the legitimacy of a 2025 constitution adopted at a Special General Meeting held at All Saints Cathedral on November 7, 2025, with the court directing that the status quo be maintained pending determination of which constitution should govern the elections.

Osieko says he responded to that cancellation by submitting a formal motion to the IEK Secretary on April 7, 2026, calling for the entire election process to be declared void and restarted afresh under the Institution's registered 2015 constitution, alongside the appointment of a new, independent scrutineers' panel and a fresh nomination timeline.

Separately, a Kiambu High Court petition filed by Sam Aberi had also suspended the election process over a dispute concerning voting rights. Justice Dorah Chepkwony dismissed that petition for want of merit on June 17, 2026, discharging the conservatory orders that had been in place.

By that point, IEK was operating under a Caretaker Committee, recognised by the Registrar of Societies in a letter dated May 28, 2026, which also confirmed the 2025 draft constitution had been recalled and that the Institution's operative constitution remained the version filed in 2015.

The Registrar's letter stated that, once the Kiambu petition was resolved, the Caretaker Committee would be expected to oversee preparation of the 2026/2028 Council elections in compliance with court directives and the IEK constitution.

Osieko's petition alleges that despite the Kiambu case being resolved in June and the Registrar's confirmation of the 2015 constitution's standing, the Caretaker Committee never acted on his April motion to void and restart the process.

Instead, he says it proceeded on the existing election timeline, issuing a roadmap update on July 9 and a voter sensitisation notice on July 21 that scheduled balloting for July 27.

His petition also cites a July 9 letter from the Chairman of the IEK Eminent Engineers Forum, a body established under the Institution's constitution to provide strategic guidance, cautioning the Caretaker Committee against proceeding with an election launched under the unregistered 2025 draft constitution, overseen by scrutineers he described as being of questionable legality, with candidates who had not been thoroughly vetted, one of whom Osieko says has since died.

Osieko is asking the court to adjourn the July 27 election date, direct the Caretaker Committee to call a Special General Meeting announcing a fresh election process under the 2015 constitution, and order the appointment of a new, independent scrutineers' panel.

The order carries a penal notice warning that disobedience could attract legal consequences for anyone served with it, and directs that it be served immediately ahead of the July 27 hearing.

With the matter now set for an inter partes hearing on the same day balloting was due to open, the outcome will determine whether IEK's long delayed transition proceeds under the current timeline or is sent back to the drawing board for a third time this year.