by Conrad Onyango, bird story agency
Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi is charting a totally new path in a bid for Kenya’s highest office. Rather than playing up ethnic affiliations or charming voters with an expensive campaign, the popular social activist hopes to secure the support of Gen Z and Millennials who spearheaded nationwide protests in 2024, in a run against corruption and poor governance.
Mwangi is building his presidential campaign around empathy, honesty, and the ability to “orchestrate” talent. The self-styled “orchestra leader” affirmed that his role will be to ensure the musicians produce harmony.
“I’m seeing myself as an orchestra bandleader and in an orchestra, the orchestra lead does not play an instrument. The band plays the instrument, and they make beautiful music. So that’s what we’re going to do between now and next year,” Mwangi told bird in a recent interview about his ambition to unseat the country’s current president, William Ruto, in the 2027 general elections.
For Mwangi, the “musicians” are everyday Kenyans, in the country and in the diaspora.
“And one of the biggest resources we have in this country is human capital. We have Kenyans everywhere in the world. We are the best in almost everything. The only problem is we export our best resource to work outside our country? And I want to bring those people to work in our country. The problems that ail our country are fixable. It’s corruption, ignorance, poverty and disease, and we have the money to do that,” he explained.
Mwangi’s spirit of championing the rights of others was formed way back in his school days. Born into poverty, he was once expelled from an approved school after exposing teachers who had exploited students as servants and, in some cases, as victims of molestation.
He recalled his mother’s words: “If you were silent about what you saw about the injustice, maybe you wouldn’t have been expelled.”
He evolved into what he describes as a “silent observer.” This practice propelled him into photojournalism, a profession that gave him room to continue to observe. As a young photographer, he documented the disturbing incidents that unfolded after Kenya’s 2007-2008 election. His work earned him international recognition, but also scarred him.
“I was just a bystander again. I was someone who was photographing violence every single day… for the next couple of months I was a very depressed person,” he said, acknowledging that he had suffered from PTSD and anger.
His childhood experience and early adult life pushed him to abandon journalism in 2008 and step onto the streets as an activist. Mwangi started organising protests and public demonstrations in 2009, sometimes standing alone, holding up placards that artistically illustrated his stance against corruption and land grabbing. He was hit with police batons, jail time, and uncountable lawsuits that secured him a reputation as one of the few Kenyans willing to confront the political class head-on.
Like his activist ethos, challenging the monopoly of the political elite and placing ordinary citizens at the centre of decision-making, he has promised voters a participatory process in his manifesto making. He said he is preparing a nationwide “meet the people” tour, dubbed, “Bonga na Bonnie,” a slang-infused Swahili phrase that translates to, ‘Talk to Bonnie.”
“The Kenyans who are suffering today know that they’re suffering and they know what could actually alleviate the suffering. So I want to go and hear them out. The plan and the master plan to fix this country will come from the Kenyan people, and that’s why we have participatory democracy,” he said.
Other places in Africa are witnessing the entrance of outsiders usually activists, reformists and youthful aspirants in its political landscape. They are shaking things up and amplifying marginalised voices. In Uganda, musician-turned-politician Bobi Wine electrified a generation by framing politics as a battle between the old and the young, even though state machinery ultimately blunted his presidential challenge. In Senegal, 44-year-old Bassirou Diomaye Faye, propelled by youth frustration with growing government unaccountability and the country’s ongoing allegiance to the former colonial power, France, defied entrenched structures to win the presidency in 2024, becoming Africa’s youngest elected head of state. His victory has become a reference point for movements across the continent searching for change agents beyond the traditional political elite.
If Mwangi breaks Kenya’s presidential ceiling, he will be the first in Kenya and will be among the few who have toppled incumbents. In the recent past, a number of Kenyan reformists have tried to attain the presidency, but they did not manage to attract significant votes. In 2013, Kenya’s former assistant minister Peter Kenneth, running on a modernising, technocratic platform, was touted as a “third force” but garnered only 72,786 (0.6% of the total presidential votes). Veteran reformist Martha Karua, long respected for her principled politics, fared even worse at 43,881 (0.4%). In both 2013 and 2017, Abduba Dida, a teacher-turned-activist, captured headlines with fiery rhetoric but translated that into slightly above 50,000 votes ( 0.4% and 0.3% of the votes) respectively.
This story was originally published by bird story agency
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