Juliana Cherera: Joho's Ex-Staffer Working At Top IEBC Post

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Vice-Chairperson, Juliana Whonge Cherera was busy discharging her mandate for the entirety of the August 9, 2022, general elections- until the business end of it when the results were set to be announced.

Cherera led a protest faction consisting of three other commissioners; Justus Nyang’aya, Francis Wanderi and Irene Masit, rejecting the presidential results released by Wafula Chebukati, which would declare William Ruto as the president-elect.

This was done through a parallel press conference at the Serena Hotel, Nairobi county on Monday, August 15, the same day the official results were to be announced. 

"We are not at the Bomas of Kenya because we cannot take ownership of the results that are going to be announced because of the opaque nature in which these results have been handled," Cherera stated. 

The following day, she would hold another conference parallel to Azimio la Umoja's Raila Odinga's presser whereby he rejected the final results.

She revealed that Chebukati gave them a total of 100.01 per cent, meaning that 0.01 per cent was translating to around 142,000 votes which would make a huge difference in the presidential results. These are findings Viral Tea has since disputed in detail.

The internal feud between Chebukati and the four commissioners opened another one of those huge cracks that have dogged the country's electoral commission with regards to how it conducts its elections, issues that have spanned several years. But Juliana Cherera, it turns out, is no new face.

Profile & Career

Cherera, alongside the trio, was nominated by outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta on August 5, 2021, to replace four commissioners who resigned from the commission. They would be appointed much later and sworn in on September 2, 2021, by Chief Justice Martha Koome at the Supreme Court in Nairobi.

The four replaced Roselyn Akombe, Paul Kurgat, Margaret Mwachanya and Connie Maina, who resigned after the 2017 General Election.

Cherera has over 18 years of experience in Education and Management in the public sector. Before her appointment to the Commission, she worked as Chief Officer Executive in the Strategic Delivery Unit of the Mombasa County Government, under Governor Hassan Joho.

She also worked as a Member of the Mombasa County Emergency Household Relief and Nutrition Support Project Coordination Committee as well as the secretary to the Mombasa County Economic Recovery and Legacy Strategy.

Cherera is also a member of the Kenya Devolution Support Program Committee. The holder of a Master's degree in Education, Leadership and Educational Management from Kenya Methodist University, briefly worked as an Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) teacher before taking up the county government job.

She works on a full-time basis as a vice chairperson of the Commission and her mandate includes facilitating commissioners to execute their duties at the commission at all times while serving as the deputy to Chebukati. She also chairs the Voter Education, Partnerships and Stakeholders Engagement Committee.

Cherera also holds the following key qualifications: Bachelor of Education (Arts). Honours from Kenyatta University, Project Management; KIM, Strategic Leadership and Development Program; KSG, Senior Management Course (SMC); KSG.

Cherera's Value

During her interview for the IEBC post in September 2021, Cherera stunned the country by admitting that she was worth Ksh16.6 million. Her assets include 11 acres of land in Kwale county, 1.5 acres of land in Kilifi, a two-acre tea farm in Meru South and a one-acre land in Mackinnon Market. 

Further, she owns a Ksh3 million family house in Mtwapa, has 10,000 shares at a local telco, shares at Mwalimu Sacco worth Ksh328,000 and a Ksh2.4 million vehicle. 

Her claims could make up the basis of Azimio's argument at the Supreme Court in their bid to invalidate William Ruto's presidential election, which included her and the trio being left out when Chebukati announced the results.

However, Cherera's mathematical error could find the coalition vulnerable to defeat, especially if the apex court takes into consideration the lessons from the historic 2017 nullification of the presidential results.

Lawyers believe that Chebukati did not err in making the announcement in the exercise of his mandate as the Chairperson of the Commission as the Commissioners had only made a statement but not in writing, a matter which could give IEBC an advantage.

IEBC Commissioners hold presser at Nairobi Hotel on Monday, August 15, 2022. /STANDARD DIGITAL

They indicated that the four were just Commissioners but Chebukati discharged his role as the National Returning Officer, who can only make a declaration for the presidential election results. The law further states that IEBC must meet a quorum to undertake its obligation in carrying out an election exercise that states they shall not be less than a half.

"The quorum for the conduct of business at a meeting of the Commission shall be at least half of the existing members of the Commission, provided that the quorum shall not be less than three members."

In a Supreme Court ruling in April this year on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), IEBC won the protracted court battle when it was found that it had a quorum to verify the signatures, opening the pathway for the commission ahead of this year's general election at a time when it had just three commissioners.