Politicians are increasingly writing books exposing the clever tactics that Kenyans deploy to squeeze out every available shilling from a campaigning aspirant.
No one is told they cannot win, the politicians disclose, and that feeling of having a chance keeps the money flowing. And politicians end up spending millions in handouts and other forms of assistance, only to realise on the voting day that they were being extorted.
In her 2025 book “Unwritten Political Rules: A Young Woman’s Path in Kenyan Politics”, Cathy Irungu – who vied for the Nyeri woman representative seat in 2013 and sought the Mathira parliamentary seat in 2017 – opines that voters have become as corrupt as politicians when it comes to money during campaigns.
“In Mathira”, she writes, “the electorate demands to be ‘bought’, making it costlier to campaign there than at the county level.”
Voters queue to cast their votes at AC Ol Kalou Primary School polling station during the Ol Kalou by-election on July 16, 2026.
Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi | Nation Media Group
She further notes: “Wanjiku [typical Kenyan] has mastered the art of feeding off politicians and the cycle perpetuates itself. The politicians understand this game intimately and so does Wanjiku.”
From her experiences, she came up with the lesson that no one belongs to anyone.
“People never truly belong to anyone, and in the end even my own drivers turned against me,” she writes.
Now, former minister, governor and lawmaker Kiraitu Murungi has discussed the matter in great detail in his latest book “Illusions of Democracy: A Political Memoir” that was launched at a Nairobi hotel on Friday night.
The book Illusions of Democracy: A Political Memoir by Kiraitu Murungi pictured at Nation Centre in Nairobi on October 10, 2026.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
The book revisits his 2022 campaign for a second term as Meru governor, where he came third after Kawira Mwangaza and Mithika Linturi. He writes that, in the last days of the campaign, he could hardly read the genuine political mood towards him.
“In every rally across the county, they sang, danced and shouted themselves hoarse, but it was all false. The people had become experts in faking love and support for politicians. They were not celebrating us; they were celebrating our money,” he writes. “The people openly demanded to be bribed.”
“They were reduced to a fraudulent money racket. Boda boda riders made brisk business ferrying people from one meeting to another. Sometimes, the people who were given transport in one meeting would run across valleys through shortcuts to be given more transport in the next meeting,” writes Mr Murungi.
Former Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi during a past interview at his Nairobi office.
Photo credit: Evans Habil | Nation Media Group
When he spoke during the launch of the book, he said the “old Kanu culture of cash handouts and sycophancy has returned”.
“The villagers have become smart. They are also not the innocent, naive people we think about. They are smart and deceitful. The wananchi have an instrumental view of politics. So, they have devised tricks to extract some cash from gullible politicians. The people have become cynical about politics and politicians. They have been told many lies, and actually they have given up on politicians as agents of change,” he said.
“Despite many years of civic education, there’s still too much political illiteracy, especially in our peasant politics. Our democracy has moved away from a contest of ideas to physical violence, lies, and bribery. Many people will be attending political meetings, not to listen to what these people are saying, but to wait for the end so that they can get some transport to get home,” added the former Meru governor.
A helicopter carrying pro-government MPs lands at Gaturiri Primary School in Nyeri County during the Mathira Bottom-Up Empowerment Day on May 9, 2025. The event, hosted by Mathira MP Eric Wamumbi, saw the legislators rally support for the Kenya Kwanza administration.
Photo credit: Joseph Kanyi | Nation Media Group
He further said: “I know places where I’ve been to in Meru where the villagers wait for you to come and grease their palms so that they can go and [vote.] And they will stay outside the polling station. If no politician comes with Sh50 or Sh100 to oil them, they go home without voting…That is how all manner of unscrupulous visionaries, fraudsters are being elected.”
Prof Peter Kagwanja, the keynote speaker at the launch, said: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except everything else. That is what [Winston] Churchill told us. It is nothing to celebrate. It is something to watch. According to Plato, democracy is the only system that would enable people to choose idiots and vote out citizens. It’s not about you; it’s about the system itself.”
The launch was attended by Nation Media Group’s acting Editor-in-Chief Harry Misiko, who represented CEO Geoffrey Odundo, and a number of dignitaries.
The top shots in attendance included former Parliament Speaker Francis ole Kaparo, former minister Francis Muthaura, former judge Aaron Ringera, former Embu senator Njeru Ndwiga, former National Cohesion and Integration Commission Chairman Samuel Kobia, and retired Presbyterian cleric Timothy Njoya.
