Not only are Kenya’s youth fed up with corruption, unemployment, and the rising cost of living, but also with a political class that continuously vows to turnaround the situation yet fails to follow through. The government leaders for years have been calling young people the ”future” but the policies hardly mirror their lives. Instead of being accepted as partners in nation-building, they are, in most cases, labeled as noisy, impatient, or entitled.
Such a gap between them has escalated tremendously just recently. Youths feel that they have been left out politically as the decisions that affect them – digital rights, taxation, education financing, and reforms in the police force – are taken without their presence. They are told what has been decided instead of being consulted. Dialogue is replaced by orders. Inclusivity is now being used to brand rather than its original practice.
Nowadays, the youth going to the streets and researching their issues on the internet should not be interpreted just as the expression of discontent, but rather as the voices of a generation that acknowledges the need for participation. The leaders in Kenya ought to understand once and for all that the youth are not their opponents or mere data, but citizens with voices, ideas, and rights. The more they are ignored, the more frustrating they become and hence, the more mistrust grows among them.
Should Kenya be determined to bring real change, the country needs to be rid of political theatrics and start talking about the genuine empowerment of young people. Otherwise, furtherance of the generational divide, which the country is no longer capable of, will be the outcome.
