IEBC has declined to revoke the clearance of Senator Johnson Sakaja to vie for the Nairobi governor seat on August 9.
The commission says the only way it can reverse the decision is through a court order setting aside the decision of the Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC).
The DRC cleared Sakaja to vie for the governor seat on June 19, 2022 after dismissing a complaint by Dennis Wahome.
The tribunal said it lacked jurisdiction to ascertain the authenticity of Sakaja's Bachelor of Science in Management degree from Uganda's Team University. Wahome claims the degree was forged.
"The totality of the foregoing is that the commission acted within the law and is now functus officio as far as the authenticity of the impugned degree certificate is concerned," Chairman Wafula Chebukati said in a letter addressed to Commission for University Education (CUE) chief executive Mwenda Ntarangwi.
Functus officio refers to an officer or agency whose mandate has expired, due to either the arrival of an expiry date or an agency having accomplished the purpose for which it was created.
Chebukati was responding to a letter from CUE dated June 29 that informed the electoral agency of its decision to revoke the recognition of Sakaja's degree.
CUE wanted IEBC to act on that information and initiate the revocation of Sakaja's clearance certificate.
But Chebukati said the Supreme Court in the degree case of Wajir Governor Mohamed Mahamud set out the principles governing pre-election disputes.
He said the court ruled that where an election petition has conclusively been concluded by IEBC's Dispute Resolution Committee or the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal (PPDT), or the court, the dispute can no longer be a ground in a petition to an election.
"Where the IEBC or PPDT has resolved a pre-election dispute, any aggrieved party may appeal the decision to the High Court sitting as a judicial review court, or in exercise of its supervisory decision under Article 165 (3) and (6) of the Constitution," Chebukati explained.
This therefore means, unless CUE or any other entity moves to court and obtains orders revoking Sakaja's clearance to vie in the August polls, IEBC no longer has the mandate to deny Sakaja space on the ballot paper.
IEBC's decision comes hot on the heels of a court decision early Friday that directed the commission to include Sakaja's name on the ballot papers for the Nairobi governor seat.
This was after the court declined to issue orders sought by Wahome to prevent the printing of ballots until a case he has filed before the court seeking to block Sakaja from the gubernatorial race is heard and determined.
Justice Antony Mrima set the hearing date for the case on Monday, July 4, 2022.
