Democratic National Alliance Secretary General Barrack Muluka has sharply criticized Kenya’s political scene, describing it as a “post-ideological dispensation” where elite power deals outweigh ideas.
He warned that political parties now operate like business cartels, negotiating power behind closed doors while voters are sidelined.
Speaking on Radio Generation, Muluka said the country has drifted from issue-based politics, where parties compete on clear ideas and policy platforms.
“Political parties are supposed to compete on platforms of ideas,” he said, explaining that ideology should guide “the kind of political economy they propose to employ in governance” and the type of society they intend to build.
He argued that dominant parties now focus primarily on seizing power rather than presenting coherent policies. “We are in a space where political parties that are dominant are no longer competing on the platform of ideas. They are bargaining for power,” Muluka said. “Some of them are very crude. They will say it as it is — we want power. We cannot do without power.”
Muluka coined the term “cartel democracy” to describe negotiated power-sharing among elites. He said these arrangements are designed “for purposes of protecting themselves, their interests in closets that exclude everyone else,” only for leaders to later return to the public seeking validation.
He cautioned that such deals often predetermine election outcomes before voters even cast their ballots. “The result is predetermined even before you get to the ballot box,” Muluka said, arguing that citizens are increasingly reduced to passive observers in elite negotiations.
Pointing to current political developments, Muluka referenced discussions involving President William Ruto, Oburu Oginga, and Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga as examples of arrangements framed around sharing power.
He noted remarks suggesting “this cow must be cut in the middle,” interpreting them as symbolic of dividing political influence.
He also highlighted similar patterns in opposition politics. Referring to statements by Fred Matiang’i that decisions “shall not be determined in a boardroom,” Muluka insisted that behind-the-scenes negotiations are common across all major parties.
“What is happening in the broad-based government is the same thing that is happening in the united opposition — self-interest, self-interest,” he said.
Muluka questioned the role of citizens in this evolving political order.
“Where is the concept of the governed in all these machinations?” he asked, criticizing rhetoric that treats voters as mere ethnic blocs. He insisted that citizens should not be treated as numbers to be “aggregated” and “tossed about,” stressing that governance must return to persuasion based on ideas rather than elite deals.
