Mundalo Advice, Managing Director of Two Cents Leadership Institute, says while most Kenyan political parties claim social democratic ideologies on paper, few translate those principles into meaningful grassroots understanding and action.
Speaking during an interview on Radio Generation, Mundalo argued that ideology in Kenya is largely a formality, crafted to satisfy legal thresholds rather than to shape political culture.
“All political parties in Kenya have an identity. They have an ideology, at least in writing,” he said on Monday.
“Most of them are actually Social Democrats.”
However, he questioned what happens after parties secure registration.
According to Mundalo, many party documents are primarily designed to meet requirements set by the Registrar of Political Parties.
“It’s basically something that is used to register the political party at Registrar of Political Parties… because there are these requirements that you must do this, you must do this,” he said.
He noted that provisions on inclusion — such as support for women, youth and persons with disabilities — are standard across parties because they are mandatory for registration.
“There’s no political party that you can say, at least as per registration, that it does not support women… it does not support PWD. Why? Because it’s a requirement of registration.”
The real test, he insisted, comes after paperwork is approved. “What happens after registration? That is where the rubber meets the road,” Mundalo said, emphasizing that ideology must be lived and understood by the public, not stored in party constitutions.
Drawing from his experience serving on the National Executive Committee of the Jubilee Party as National Youth Chair, Mundalo criticized the structure of youth leagues within political parties.
“Youth leagues are bouncing political parties. It is a place where the young people are thrown so they can jump up and down as the parents have lunch and talk serious issues,” he said.
He recounted changing his title from chair of the Jubilee Youth League to National Youth Chair of the Jubilee Party to integrate young people into mainstream decision-making.
“Our issues must not be discussed as peripheral issues, because if the young people are the majority, they cannot be a peripheral issue,” he said, even questioning the logic of maintaining a standalone Ministry of Youth Affairs.
Mundalo maintained that political success in Kenya depends on citizen ownership of ideas. “For as long as political leaders have these good ideas… but the person on the ground is not understanding exactly how it should be run, then it will just continue being good talk,” he said, adding that power can only be won when ideology is “understood and taken by the people.”
