About | Mulembe Politics

Governance Audited. Data Decoded. The Great Lakes Region, Quantified.

Since 2016, Mulembe Politics has been tracking power, policy, and governance across Africa’s Great Lakes Region. What began as political commentary has evolved into something more rigorous: data-driven governance intelligence that moves beyond headlines to measure what actually matters.

What We Do

We analyze governance across the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Somalia through three questions:

Is power predictable? We track whether institutions follow their own rules.
Are resources reaching citizens? We measure whether budgets translate to schools, clinics, and infrastructure.
Can citizens hold leaders accountable? We audit transparency, electoral integrity, and legal processes.

Instead of asking “Who’s winning?” we ask “What’s working?”

Who We Serve

Investors & Risk Analysts

.You need to know if a county government will honor contracts, whether a regulatory agency operates independently, or if electoral cycles will disrupt markets. We provide governance risk assessments grounded in quantitative metrics—not speculation

Journalists & Researchers

You need data to substantiate stories or academic papers. We provide granular governance metrics, institutional histories, and sourcing trails that meet academic standards.

Citizens & Civil Society

You need to know if your elected officials are delivering on promises. We translate complex governance data into clear accountability reporting—which wards are executing budgets, which courts are backlogged, which agencies are captured by political interests.

Policy Professionals

You need evidence-based insights for advocacy or program design. We map institutional relationships, audit policy implementation gaps, and identify where reforms succeed or fail at the sub-national level.

Our Approach

Data Before Drama

.We don’t cover political theater unless it has measurable governance impacts. A Cabinet Secretary’s resignation matters less than the institutional succession protocols that follow. A viral protest matters less than the budgetary response it triggers.

Local First, Always

Most governance analysis suffers from “capital city bias”—focusing on national politics while ignoring ward-level execution. We audit governance at the smallest administrative units (wards in Kenya, cells in Rwanda, kebeles in Ethiopia) because that’s where policies either succeed or collapse.

Institutions and Individuals

Personalities come and go. Institutions endure—or fail. We measure whether organizations can survive leadership changes, resist capture by political actors, and maintain operational consistency over time.

Transparency in Our Work

Every claim we make links to source documents: court filings, legislative records, audit reports, or electoral data. When we calculate a score, we show the formula and the inputs. When we make predictions, we state our confidence levels and track our accuracy

The Mulembe Sentinel Framework

.Starting in 2025, we’re introducing the Sentinel Framework—a suite of proprietary governance metrics designed for the Great Lakes context.

Our indices measure:

Electoral integrity at the ward and constituency level
Institutional independence of courts, electoral bodies, and regulatory agencies
Budget execution efficiency from treasury to frontline service delivery
Legal predictability based on adherence to statutory timelines and procedural requirements

These aren’t abstract scores. They’re designed to answer practical questions: Should I invest in this county? Is this court likely to rule fairly? Will this policy actually get implemented?

Full methodology documentation (including formulas, data sources, and validation methods) is available in our technical white paper—published January 2026.

Our Standards

Editorial Independence

.We don’t accept funding from political parties, government agencies, or actors with direct governance stakes in our coverage area. Our analysis is funded by subscriptions, data licensing, and research partnerships with academic institutions.

Anonymity & Security

The Great Lakes Region remains a complex environment for journalists and analysts. Our editorial team operates under pen names for security reasons, but our work is transparent: every data point is sourced, every methodology is documented, and every prediction is tracked for accuracy.

Correction Policy

When we’re wrong, we say so publicly. All corrections are logged with timestamps and explanations. Our accuracy rate on electoral predictions, judicial rulings, and policy outcomes will be published quarterly (beginning Q3 2026).

Our History

2016–2024: Published political analysis and commentary focusing on Kenya’s devolved governance, Uganda’s legislative processes, and Rwanda’s institutional development.

2025–Present: Pivoted to data-driven governance intelligence, launching the Sentinel Framework and expanding coverage to 12 Great Lakes nations. Currently building public-facing dashboards for real-time governance tracking.

Get Involved

For Data Inquiries

Need custom governance analysis for investment due diligence, academic research, or policy advocacy?

📧 hello@mulembenation.co.ke

For Source Submissions

Have documents (audit reports, court filings, leaked budgets) that reveal governance realities?

📧 lab@mulembenation.co.ke (We protect whistleblower anonymity)

Follow the Work

X (Twitter):@MulembePolitics

Facebook:Mulembe Politics

What’s Next

Coming Soon:

Governance Dashboards: Real-time tracking of budget execution, court case backlogs, and electoral preparedness across 12 nations
Institutional Report Cards: Annual resilience ratings for key agencies (electoral commissions, judiciaries, anti-corruption bodies)
Prediction Markets Integration: Probabilistic forecasts on elections, legislative outcomes, and policy implementation

Subscribe to our mailing list to get early access when these tools launch.

A Note on Our Name

Mulembe is a Luhya word that means both “peace” and “greeting”—but its deeper meaning is about covenant. When Luhya elders say “Mulembe,” they’re invoking a social contract: we see each other, we acknowledge each other’s humanity, and we commit to resolving disputes through dialogue rather than violence. That’s the standard we hold governance to—not performative peace, but accountable peace built on transparent rules that apply to everyone.

We’re not here to pick sides. We’re here to pick apart systems until we understand how they work—and how to make them work better.