Bernadette Musundi rose to fame in 2017 after she was elected the Chairperson of the Selection Panel that identified and vetted candidates for the positions of Chairperson and Commissioners of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops member would then lead the selection panel into identifying and subsequently submitting the nominees to the then-President Uhuru Kenyatta for their subsequent appointment.
As the chairperson of the nine-member panel, she backed the team’s choice of Wafula Chebukati for the position of chairman.
Chebukati would go on to serve his full term of six years as chairman of IEBC leaving the commission with quorum hitches with only one remaining commissioner Irene Masit.
Outgoing IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati during the launch of the 2022 Post-Election Evaluation Report on Monday, January 16, 2023.
IEBC
Musundi, an accomplished career civil servant, equally served as Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Vice President and Ministry of Home Affairs, Heritage and Sports during Moody Awori’s tenure.
She was also the Vice President of the African Women Co-operators in the International Cooperative Alliances (ICA) Global Women Committee.
Her credentials extended to her spearheading reforms in Kenya’s Prisons Department and policies that pertain to gender in the country.
Musundi was equally instrumental in the coordination of administrative steps that led to the establishment of the Children’s Act.
Apart from that, Musundi has sat on several boards of directors, among them as a Trustee of the Kianda Foundation.
She is the current Chairperson of Transparency International (Kenya), Kenya Girl Guides Association and Trefoil Women’s Guild, Highridge Teachers College, and has served on the boards of many schools.
Previously, she was the Headmistress of Sing’ore Girls – Uasin Gishu County and was also the Chairperson of Regina Pacis College – a constituent College of CUEA.
She continues to participate in policy and governance at the national level having recently served as the Chairperson of the selection panel for IEBC commissioners in 2016.
Musundi is also a holder of a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts with a specialization in Marketing.
An image of former IEBC selection panel chairperson Bernadette Musundi and vice-chairman Abdulghafur El-Busaidy on November 25, 2016
Daily Nation
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