Bonnie Mwangi is running for Prezzo, so I might have friends in high places

Activist Boniface Mwangi launches 2027 Presidential Bid at Ufungamano House on August 27, 2025. Benard Orwongo, Standard]

My friend Bonnie Mwangi wants to be the next Prezzo of the Republic of Kenya, so I may soon have friends in high places. The online community, Bonnie’s stomping ground, appeared stunned into silence, perhaps because they didn’t see that coming.

Truth be told, I tried dissuading Bonnie from elective politics eons ago, but he doesn’t always listen. Not that my opinion matters; I just thought he had adequate power, of and by himself, especially given the traction that Pawa254 garnered around the youth.

And Pawa254 had managed to put politicians in their place using art and, more crucially, taken energy out of politicians. In a sense, he had created an institution, if not become one.

Now that Bonnie is staking a claim in high politics, he has to be ready for the rough ride ahead. Oft-times, I think Bonnie is too honest to be a politician; it takes a certain type of personality to lie with a straight face, as most politicians, do all the time.

Bonnie narrated how, once upon a time, he considered running for a councillor’s seat, before the old katiba was scrapped. No need to bother with a small seat, some “brokers” that he had encountered told him; they’d make him their MP. There was food and drink to go round, so they ate and drank.

By the time Bonnie left, he chuckled, some 10k had been wiped out—he had only taken a soda—he clarified—but he had gained a new name: Mheshimiwa. It’s mock heroism, a trope Kenyans use with reckless abandon.