President William Ruto during the signing of Performance Contracts by Cabinet Secretaries, State House, Nairobi. [PCS] In Kenya’s peculiar democracy, when you ask which coalition controls Parliament, the answer is not as black and white as it would be elsewhere. It depends on who you ask. To the Judiciary, Azimio la Umoja remains the majority alliance. To the parliamentary leadership, particularly the Speaker, it is Kenya Kwanza. That contradiction was crystallised by a recent High Court ruling that overturned the Speaker’s declaration naming Kenya Kwanza as the majority coalition. The judges found that several Azimio MPs had been reassigned without…
Author: By Wanja Maina
When news broke that former Prime Minister Raila Odinga had died, Kenya fell silent. Radios stopped mid-song, television screens dimmed, and social media was filled with disbelief. For many, it was not just the loss of a political icon but the end of a defining chapter in the nation’s story. .fade-out-overlay { position: absolute; top: -80px; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 60px; z-index: 1; background: linear-gradient(to bottom, rgba(255, 255, 255, 0), rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)); } .paywall-container { position: relative; max-width: 100%; margin: 0 auto; padding: 25px; border: 1px solid #e0e0e0; border-radius: 8px; box-shadow: 0 2px 10px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);…
In early 2013, Kenya stood at a political crossroads. President Mwai Kibaki’s days in State House were numbered, and succession talk consumed the country. Unlike Moi in 2002, Kibaki had not publicly anointed a successor. Amid that uncertainty, then Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, leader of TNA, shocked the country when he agreed to shelve his presidential ambitions in favour of Musalia Mudavadi of the UDF. The pact, quietly brokered by powerful State House insiders, was to protect certain interests. At the time, Uhuru was facing immense personal pressure. The ICC case hung heavily over him. Among power brokers, it…
Opposition leaders led by Kalonzo Musyoka and Rigathi Gachagua address a rally in Bisil, Kajiado County on October 03,2025 during a meet the people tour to solidify their base. [Denish Ochieng, Standard] Kenya stands on the edge of a generational reckoning. By 2027, those aged 18 to 35 who make up 36 per cent of our population, will decide the direction of our democracy. Yet today, our political parties treat youth as spectators. In Kenya, political parties remain the most reliable and structured pathway to government. Ours is a multi-party democracy by design, enshrined in Article 4(2) of the Constitution.…
Ballot boxes at a polling station during the past election. [File, Standard] As Kenya approaches its pivotal 2027 General Election, Artificial Intelligence is poised to play a transformative role in the democratic process for better or worse. While AI holds potential to enhance electoral transparency, improve voter engagement and streamline operations at IEBC, it also presents threats, including rapid spread of deep fakes and automated influence campaigns that could fundamentally undermine trust and electoral legitimacy. Kenya is a uniquely fertile ground for the growing influence of AI. The country has an internet penetration rate of approximately 48 per cent, equating…
Peter Mutharika, left, of the Democratic Progressive Party, and Lazarus Chakwera, leader of the Malawi Congress Party [File: AFP] What an electrifying week it has been watching the Malawi elections. From the sidelines, it felt like a thrilling horse race between two veterans: Peter Mutharika and Lazarus Chakwera. At the time of writing, both men were claiming victory, even before the electoral commission had officially declared results. As a Kenyan, I could not help but feel a mixture of fascination and frustration. Much of the political grapevine unfolded in Chichewa, Malawi’s national language, and while I admired the vibrancy of the…
Bunge la Mwananchi members during anti-Finance Bill protests along Moi Avenue, Nairobi, on June 26, 2024. [File, Standard] In urban centres of Africa, a new form of political engagement is taking root. It’s not a political party or a formal institution, but a vibrant, grassroots phenomenon known as the citizen parliament. These unlegislated bodies operate in public spaces, offering an alternative to formal legislatures, often seen as detached and inaccessible. In Kenya, this movement is embodied by Bunge la Mwananchi, in Senegal, it’s the Cité-Débat (debate in the city) and in South Africa, the traditional Indaba; all function as crucial public…
Female Police officers during the Budget reading of 2020/21 at the Parliament buildings, Nairobi. [Elvis Ogina, Standard] If policing in Kenya were ever designed with women in mind, maternity uniforms would have been standard, decades ago. The fact that we are debating whether pregnant officers deserve uniforms that fit reveals a deeper truth: our police service was never built for women. It was a colonial institution created by men, for men and despite visible strides toward inclusion, women officers continue to navigate structures that remain stubbornly gendered. /* Container styling */ .fade-out-overlay { position: absolute; top: -80px; left: 0; width:…
Parliament has failed to pass the gender rule. [File, Standard] In Kenya’s political arena, women are rarely seen as leaders in their own right. Instead, they are often labelled with degrading terms like flower girls or slay queens, or portrayed as sidekicks to powerful men. These sexist narratives undermine their legitimacy and overshadow their ideas and capabilities. This problem is not unique to Kenya. When a US governor dismissed Vice President Kamala Harris because she lacked “humility” as a stepmother, it reflected a global pattern that reduces women’s value to their biological or marital roles. In 2010, Kenya took a…
A section of youthful protesters who took to the streets demanding the withdrawal of the punitive Finance Bill 2024 on June 26, 2024. [Boniface Okendo, Standard] The 2024 Gen Z protests shook the government to its core, forcing withdrawal of a punitive Finance Bill. But a protest is not a political strategy. For this energy to be more than a fleeting moment, it must be institutionalised. The next frontier for Kenya’s youth is not in the streets, but inside the very political parties they have long disdained. The protests have shown us that Gen Zs are not apathetic. They have demonstrated an unprecedented ability to organise, mobilise, and reshape the national…
Youth during Sasa Sasa protest in Kitengela, on July 7, 2025. [File, Standard] Something has fundamentally shifted in Kenya. The Gen Z-led protests of 2024 were a political earthquake, revealing a new, unpredictable force in the political landscape. With the 2027 elections in sight, politicians are in a panicked scramble to win over young voters. It looks more and more like the European powers’ scramble for Africa in the Berlin Conference of 1884. In that meeting, European leaders carved up a continent and established rules for its exploitation, all without a single African representative in the room. This is the…
Youthful protesters along Kenyatta Avenue, during the first anniversary of Gen Z deaths on June 25, 2025. [Benard Orwongo, Standard] If you ask a random youth in Mathare how the government treats us, they’ll tell you we feel, at best, paternalised and condescended, and at worst, patronised and disregarded. Senior government officials have branded us disrespectful. Our peers advocating good governance have faced abduction and trumped-up charges of terrorism. Last week, addressing youth discontent in Machakos, the President blamed parents of poor parenting. The government’s mindset seems to demand unquestioning blind respect from the youth without reciprocity. This mirrors a parent-child relationship with a power imbalance,…
Dr Erastus Edung Ethekon takes oath of office as the Chairperson of IEBC on July 11, 2025. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard] Greetings, EBC chairman and commissioners. Congratulations on your appointment and being entrusted with the enormous responsibility of midwifing Kenya’s 15th democratic elections in 2027, which, by all indications, will be highly competitive. As your team undergoes induction in Mombasa, the humid climate mirrors Kenya’s political environment: hot with high levels of polarisation, ethnic balkanisation, youth protests, and their unfortunate hijacking by goons. These are strong indicators of potential challenges the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission will face during and after…
Protesters during Saba Saba protest in Kitengela on July 7th 2025. (Collins Oduor, Standard) On July 7th, 2025, active citizens celebrated Saba Saba’s 35th birthday. In 1990, we crossed the Rubicon in our history by pushing back against authoritarianism that had repressed Kenyans’ political rights, especially their right to exercise multipartyism and political pluralism. Back then, things were so bad that even if you exercised your freedom of speech, you weren’t assured of freedom after speech. Forced disappearances, torture chambers, and spying were the order of the day. We remember this horror movie of repression, which is part of our…
It will take me a while to get over the scenes I saw on television of goons holding big jembe sticks threatening the protestors who were demanding justice for Ojwang. The goons, who were charged, showing their faces seemingly well-coordinated, were telling all who cared to listen that “hatutakubali maandamano kwa hii town”. They made good of their threats by beating people, looting, and what is worse, so far, none have been arrested. Some of the goons are now whistle-blowing, but not because they feel bad about their looting, but because they were not paid “na tulimaliza mboka” (and…