Which Kenyan Seats Require a Degree, and Why the Rule Keeps Changing

Updated 2 October 2026.

For the 10 August 2027 election, a degree is required for three posts: President, Deputy President and deputy governor. No other candidate needs one. The High Court struck the rule down for MCAs in October 2021 and for MPs, Senators and Woman Representatives in April 2022. A third judgment, on 30 September 2022, removed it for governors from the next general election onwards, but not for their deputies. IEBC Commissioner Ann Nderitu went further on Citizen TV on 23 August 2026: "As we start now, there is no requirement for a degree for anybody."

On this question the answer people give you confidently in a WhatsApp group is usually wrong, and it is wrong in both directions depending on which year the sender last paid attention.

Where the rule for MPs and MCAs lived

The degree rule for Members of Parliament and Members of County Assemblies was written into section 22 of the Elections Act 2011. It was never in the Constitution.

That single fact explains the instability. A requirement in the Constitution changes only through a constitutional amendment, which is slow and public. A requirement in an ordinary Act changes when Parliament passes an amending Act, which can happen in one session.

Parliament amended section 22 three times, through Acts No. 12 and No. 48 of 2012 and No. 1 of 2017. Subsection (1A) held the MP and MCA rule back for "the general elections to be held after the 2017 general elections", which meant 2022. It did not last that long. Justice Anthony Mrima of the High Court declared the MCA requirement "inoperational, of no legal effect and void ab initio" on 15 October 2021, in County Assembly Forum and 6 others v Attorney General. Six months later, in Wambui and 10 others v Speaker of the National Assembly, he made the same order for Members of Parliament. Both judgments found that Parliament had not run proper public participation and that the rule breached the Bill of Rights, Articles 27 and 38(3) among them.

Governors came next. In Buoga v Attorney General, decided on 30 September 2022, Mrima held that Article 180(2) makes a governor's eligibility the same as an MCA's, so section 22(2) could not ask more of a governor. The 2022 vote was seven weeks old. To head off "an avalanche of Petitions" from people the rule had kept off that ballot, he ordered that the declaration "shall take effect in the next General election", which is 10 August 2027. His finding is limited "to the extent of relating to County Governors", so section 22(2) still binds the President, the Deputy President and deputy governors. A deputy governor candidate in 2027 needs a degree that the governor at the top of the ticket does not, even though the deputy takes over if the governor's seat falls vacant.

Why a legislature keeps rewriting its own entry requirement

Two pressures pull in opposite directions, and both are legitimate.

One argues that legislative work is technical. Members read budgets, amend bills and sit on committees scrutinising specialised policy, and a formal education threshold is a proxy for the capacity to do that.

The other argues that a representative body should be representative, that a hard academic bar excludes exactly the Kenyans least served by the education system, and that voters are competent to judge capability themselves.

Because the rule sits in an ordinary statute, whichever argument prevails in a given Parliament can be written into law by that Parliament. And because the people voting on it are the people it would exclude, the commencement date tends to be pushed into a future cycle rather than applied to the sitting members.

That is the mechanism. It is not a scandal and it is not a secret. It is what happens when eligibility for an office is set by the holders of that office.

What you should do about it, whichever way it lands

Get the current text, from the Act itself and from the requirements the IEBC gazettes for your seat for this election. In writing. Dated.

Do not rely on what applied at the last election. Do not rely on a headline about a court ruling either. Read the orders at the end of the judgment: they say which office they cover and, in the governor case, from which election. And do not rely on a party official's assurance, because the party does not clear your papers, the returning officer does.

Related: the full qualification picture for each seat.

If you do hold a degree, the work is documentary

For 2027 this section matters to presidential tickets and to deputy governor candidates. In 2022 the IEBC's returning officer for the presidential election turned away Jimi Wanjigi, citing among other things the lack of a university degree under section 22(2), as the Supreme Court's judgment of 17 February 2023 records.

Holding the qualification and proving it are different tasks, and the second one has a queue.

Your certificate has to come from an institution recognised in Kenya. A qualification earned abroad generally needs a recognition or equivalence process, and that process takes time you should spend now rather than in the nomination month.

The name on the certificate must match the name on your identity document and on the voter register. Mismatches are ordinary, they are fixable, and they are only fixable in advance.

Keep certified copies. Originals get lost in the one week you need them.

Related: what the nomination file contains.

If you do not hold one, plan for both outcomes

Two parallel tracks, starting now.

Establish the current requirement for your seat in writing, so you are planning against the law rather than against a rumour.

For MCA, MP, Senator, Woman Representative and governor hopefuls, the three judgments settle the 2027 position. A would-be President, Deputy President or deputy governor without a degree is not eligible under section 22(2). A governor candidate without one can still run, with a running mate who holds one. Presidential tickets register with the IEBC between 29 May and 11 June 2027 and governor tickets between 3 and 6 June, so check the running mate's certificate well before then.

The sentence to keep

In 2027 a degree from a university recognised in Kenya is required for President, Deputy President and Deputy Governor. It is not required for Governor, MP, Senator, Woman Representative or MCA. Section 22(2) of the Elections Act sets the first rule, and three High Court judgments set the second. The governor judgment takes effect at this election.