Janet Mbugua has questioned how Kenya can rebuild public trust amid concerns about institutions after attending the Trust Summit on Thursday, October 22, 2026.
In a statement on her social media account, the media personality said she struggled to attend an event focused on trust as confidence remained low.
Mbugua compared the experience to “being invited to a dinner about honesty, and the person hosting it is the one you’ve been struggling to believe.
She added that too much remained unresolved, although she believed difficult conversations needed to happen.
Janet Mbugua questions public trust in government
Mbugua said sharing space with institutions that had damaged public confidence was challenging.
“The government has broken our trust. Corporations have broken our trust,” she said.
Additionally, she said her roles as journalist, citizen, mother and advocate converged on “the citizen of Kenya, Janet, like you.”
Mbugua said her panel heard from the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) about planned work ahead of the 2027 elections, including a roadmap for peaceful polls and efforts to close the trust gap.
The media personality further said that trust could not be repaired through a summit or by agencies collaborating in ways that appeared to sanitise themselves.
