Podtricians: How politicians learned to love podcasts

Thirty-eight minutes into her last year interview on the Kenyan podcast Cleaning the Airwaves (CTA), Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua bursts into laughter while sharing a childhood story.

It is about how she went to school wearing a headscarf to cover a bandage after being injured at the farm the previous day.

“I told the teacher, headscarf because of a fly touch there,” Karua tells the host Astar Njau before they both crack up.

This is the first of many instances in the seven-and-a-half-hour-long podcast episode that the no-nonsense former justice minister, presidential candidate and deputy presidential aspirant will get out of the tough persona she has crafted in media appearances.

Karua will dish out anecdotes about growing up (she got into trouble with her teachers not once or twice), going into law school, and her political journey – and at the same time, promote her memoir and lay the ground for her 2027 political ambitions.

Last March, Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna went on Mic Cheque, the popular podcast hosted by witty trio Chaxy, Mariah and Mwass. The episode blew up and is one of their most popular videos to date with over 360,000 views.

The podcast’s feel is more youthful and relaxed than Njau’s, featuring a couch where the trio lounges with their guests and posters of stars like Jimi Hendrix and Tame Impala on the wall. They also wear tiny, tiny shorts over there.

Sifuna, speaking in Swahili, English and Sheng, goes through a raft of topics from his upbringing, money and politics, working with Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja (whom he had become very critical of) to why he does not moisturise his legs.

Politicians, traditionally fond of talk radio and television programs, are venturing out to alternative digital media platforms like these podcasts.

In the last year alone, we have seen names like Safina Party leader Jimi Wanjigi, Senator Okiya Omtatah, DAP party leader Eugene Wamalwa Cabinet Secretaries Hassan Joho and Kipchumba Murkomen appear on shows like CTA, Mic Cheque, Iko Nini, Hey Mama! and Obinna TV.

The trend is picking up beyond Kenya; in the lead-up to last year’s U.S. elections, podcasts emerged as a new platform for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic counterpart Kamala Harris to woo voters, in addition to their media appearances on traditional platforms like Fox News, CNN and CBS.

Trump joined the American UFC commentator, comedian and former TV host Joe Rogan on his Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) podcast.

The episode got over 100 million downloads across all platforms, more than double the amount of people who tuned in to CNN to watch the first presidential debate between Trump and the initial Republican candidate Joe Biden.

Trump also appeared on Full Send, a podcast popular for its interviews with celebrities, UFC stars and online influencers, and Impaulsive, the podcast by YouTuber-turned-professional wrestler Logan Paul. 

Meanwhile, Harris went on Call Her Daddy, a sex-and-relationships podcast popular among youthful women, as well as the basketball podcast All the Smoke.

Many experts argued that Trump’s podcast interviews helped him earn the so-called ‘bro vote’ of men aged between 18 and 44 to clinch the presidency.

It is something analysts and podcasters themselves attribute to politicians’ desire for control that traditional media, with its fixed news cycles, limited airtime and strict editorial guidelines hardly allow.

“As a politician, mainstream media platforms will give me 30 minutes if I’m lucky, so I won’t have time to give much context to my answers, they want bytes,” Njau, the CTA host, says, arguing that politicians want “authentic” conversations.

Dr Ruth Owino, an assistant professor at the United States International University-Africa notes that this makes it easier for politicians to control their public image and narrative.

“Politicians engaging with mainstream media often face adversarial interviews where journalists challenge their claims and push for accountability,” she says.

“But podcasts provide a more flexible and unfiltered platform where politicians can speak at length and frame narratives without frequent interruptions.”

Njau calls mainstream professionals “too trained and too polished,” and argues that their interviews sometimes feel technical and alienating to an ordinary viewer or listener.

“The podcaster is researching in the interview while the traditional journalist has already researched before the interview,” he says.

“The journalist and guest will speak in a technical language only they understand while podcasters see no risk in asking a ‘dumb’ question. A journalist has to ask the questions a certain way; they can’t look ignorant.”

Kenyans’ content consumption behaviours are also changing; as the youth move from mainstream media to digital platforms, experts reckon this has made podcasts more influential.

The niche audiences these YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts shows bring give politicians a platform to reach specific groups like the youth or regional supporters.

But with the relaxed conversation and lack of grilling comes misinformation concerns, especially in a country where over 75 per cent of news consumers cannot distinguish between real and fake news online, according to a Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism survey.

“With a lot of podcasters, unfortunately, all they are looking for are the views,” Njau says, “the more viral and controversial it is, the better. There is no accountability because they have the disclaimer that opinions expressed in the podcast are the guests’.”

Dr Owino notes that lack of fact-checking “creates a space where politicians can disseminate unchecked narratives, potentially fuelling misinformation or historical revisionism.”

“In a highly polarised political environment like Kenya’s, the absence of accountability mechanisms in podcasts can lead to the amplification of divisive or false narratives,” she says.

Two and a half years to Kenya’s next election, it is certain podcasts will grow even more popular among politicians.

“They want an emotional connection, to share their stories,” says Njau, “So viewers don’t see them as just people who come to them to ask for votes.”