It’s time to engage youth in Kenya’s affairs
Youths attend the Shujaa Memorial Concert at Nyayo Gardens in Nakuru Town on July 28, 2024 in remembrance of those who lost their lives during the anti-government protests in the country.
What you need to know:
- Leadership is an opportunity to serve rather than an occasion to amass ill-gotten wealth.
- Youth leadership must not only be about age but also vision, creativity, enthusiasm and principles.
The Gen Z protests that almost brought our country to a standstill months ago are still vivid in our memories. The destructive demos led to a loss of a staggering 60 lives with others abducted and held incommunicado to stifle their voices. However, that has led to increased clamour for youth involvement in politics.
In retrospect, young people, who constitute 80 per cent of our total population have been taken for granted, disenfranchised and only used as voting robots and cannon fodder who demonstrate and take bullets at the directive of political demagogues masquerading as caring leaders. During campaigns, the youth feature prominently yet are conspicuously missing at the decision-making table.
With the new awakening, young people must rise to the occasion and seek to influence the trajectory the country takes going forward. First, they must seek to rid Kenya of negative ethnicity. We must move away from leaders who distract the citizenry from their common challenges by ethnically balkanising them during electioneering periods.
Secondly, young leaders must discard the deep-rooted culture of sycophancy. Many leaders worth veneration today are those who stood up for something transformative.
Thirdly, those hoping to front their candidature must be ready to slay the dragon of corruption. Leadership is an opportunity to serve rather than an occasion to amass ill-gotten wealth.
Lastly, youthful leaders must be courageous and willing to fight for their country. Youth leadership must not only be about age but also vision, creativity, enthusiasm and principles. Streamlining education and health, revamping the economy and creating jobs, enabling business, sports development among other development agendas are what Kenyans urgently need and aspiring young leaders must deliver that.
The government must come up with policies to benefit the youth and augment their role in public affairs. We must embrace a new renaissance that is on the offing with the youth at the helm.
Mr Mwirichia is a high school teacher. [email protected]
