A Message to Gen-Z's; The message is clear and the Protests should Rest for Government action

Nairobi, 

Tuesday, 23 July, 2024 

McCreadie Andias 

Kenya has witnessed one of the Longest and perhaps one of the most fierce and consistent Anti-government protests in the last two decades.

More than six weeks of unrest, cat and mouse battles between police and the Gen-Z, Streets occupied by a cloud of teargassed and a pandemonium of rage and grief.

All these have been motivated by bad governance, punitive taxes, corruption, embezzlement, negligence and poor representation of people by the government - elected representatives.

The choose few have for long made the biggest decisions that affect the living conditions and fate of millions in most cases contrary of the wishes of the populace.

Since 25th June, 2024. The young and youthful generation of the country popularly reffered to as the Gen-Z have proven that Indeed the power belongs to the people only if they realize it and choose to act upon it.

Weeks of Gen-Z protests which have forced the government of President William Ruto to concede the recently passed Finance bill 2024, a bill that brought uproar and contention over it's harsh tax policies and approaches. The President was forced to withdraw the bill in its totality and the next few weeks saw a raft of more changes introduced by the head of state including cutting of spending by state officers.

The President banned all legislative member and government officials from conducting public harambees especially in churches, He further cut the renovation costs for state institutions including the State House, Residence of Deputy and state offices by 50% and immediately suspended atleast 47 state departments with overlapping roles.

He also withdrew funding for the office of the First lady, Second lady and Spouse to the Prime Cabinet Secretary amongst more Austerity measures to reduce the public wage bill and miscellaneous state expenditure including suspending unnecessary foreign travel by state officers.

Despite all these Austerity measures and many more, The Gen-Z protests did not stop, they demanded for more reforms and implementation of policies including the signing of the IEBC bill which compelled the president to put pen on paper, a move that will now see a new IEBC commision formed, which will allow the youths to recall bad legislators as they intend.

Still the Protests raged on every Tuesday and Thursday of the week and the Youths now demanded the sacking of President William Ruto's cabinet over corruption and incompetence. 

On 11th July, 2024, President William Ruto was the second President in Kenya after President Mwai Kibaki to suspend the cabinet with immediate effect. 

President William Ruto heeded to the calls by Gen-Z and dismissed the entire cabinet including the attorney General with the exception of the Prime Cabinet Secretary and Deputy President. This was indeed an unprecedented and a bold move which nobody saw coming. This was a move to pave the way for the formation of a “broad-based Government”.

The President said he had acted after an extensive appraisal of the Cabinet performance.

As if it was not daunting enough, the following day the President accepted the resignation of Inspector General of Police Japheth Koome. Koome was accused of being the mastermind of extra judicial killings and Abductions of peaceful protestors by security agencies. 

None of these were enough to stop the protest until today. The youths have remained consistent, fierce and energetic with their hard stance against the government of President William Ruto. 

During the protest, we have witnessed excesses where a section of insurrectionists stormed and overtook the parliament destroying the premises and burned down some structures. 

We all have to agree the protests were peaceful on the onset but now goons have taken over looting retail stores, electronics shops and terrorizing fellow protestors.

More than 200 lives have been lost since the protests begun and disturbing images have been shared online showing lifeless youths lying on the ground some without brains others covered in a pool of blood. 

Hundreds have been hospitalized and the most touching thing about Gen-Z is that they have been contributing money and gifts from amongst themselves to clear hospital bills and cover funeral expenses for injured or dead protestors. 

As of Tuesday, 23 July, 2024. Youths have declared to occupy the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and shut down all it's activities. Attempts to occupy state House had been laid before but turned futile due to heightened security intervention and surveillance. 

These are protected government institutions and facilities, illegal and forceful incursion into such facilities is a direct attack and provocation to the government and the repercussions will be dealt with severely. 

Such incursions will be handled treasonously and the event will be bloodbath. Why would a peaceful protest occupy a protected government facility disrupting operations and service delivery?These are suicide missions to begin with. 

At this point we have to agree on one thing. The Gen-z have won more than has ever been won for decades by any other person or group against the interests of the government. 

The Gen-Z protests have bearded alot of fruits and saved the poor man from the claws of the government bit on heavy taxation, unfair government policies and public wage bill. 

But the truth of the matter is that we cannot achieve everything we want at once, what the country has achieved so far at the hands and efforts of the youths is priceless and deserves big appreciation. 

At this point, I must say that a good dancer must know when to leave the stage. Most or accurately said, 75% of the demands by the Gen-Z have been granted by the President himself and some cannot be granted or might not be granted now. 

It would be rather an unexpected joke to see President William Ruto sign a resignation letter giving up a government he fought tooth to nail to form. Even if the President Resigns #RUTOMUSTGO as the Gen-Z demands,Deputy president Rigathi Gachagua will take over as President but one question is, Is he any better than the President?. 

Worse could be the military will take advantage of a weak democratic system and take over making the country a junta state. We all know what happens when a country is controlled by the military. Dusk to Dawn 24-hour curfews, Media censorship, Suspension of international travels with all international airports shut down and worse the economy will be at a standstill. 

A bad Government is better than no Government at all. What's left now is to allow President William Ruto to make true of his promises and finish the remaining part of the term. The only way for Ruto to go is through the ballot in 2027. 

The President has done everything he could and for once we have seen him listen to the demands of the people, The President has once invited the Youths for a Twitter space to discuss the way foward and many boycotted the space. One youth, Osama Otero, who Co-hosted the space with the president was deemed a traitor to the Gen-Z course and condemned harshly. Evidently the youths have decided that there is no room for dialogue but there is all room for weekly protests. Until when? 

Sadly, Each of these weekly protests must claim atleast two lives if not ten and atleast hundreds must be admitted to hospitals with life threatening bullet injuries. 

The typical Kenyan police will not stop using teargas cannisters, water cannons, Rungus, Rubber bullets or live bullets no matter how peaceful these protests are. The more these protests keep on the more lives we lose and sadly all the perpetrators of these killings walk away with impunity. 

We cannot afford to lose more lives or worry about how many people we cannot account for at the sunset of each protesting day. One life lost at each protesting day is a lifetime of cries, loss and grief for a family of a young man or woman who had a bright future ahead taken away by a bullet all in the name of weekly protests against a legitimately elected government. 

Most of the Protestors don't even know what the endgame is if asked while some will say "total shutdown"!. This cannot be the endgame, there has to be a valid, workable and holistic endgame that provides for a future ahead. 

The Government has to proceed with its constitutional mandate to implement the agreed-upon and elected-for roles for the people without continent distraction from it's citizens. There must be a national, multi - sectoral dialogue to compromise and structure the way foward for Kenya and save life lost and property damaged in the protest.

The country need's  a collective effort to move foward. Gen-Z's have proved enough of their worth. There has to be a collective and constitutional way foward. The president should be allowed to work.

The same happens within a family set-up. When the children have an issue with the father, They sit down with him and present their issues for him to work towards a workable solution. Violence cannot be a sustainable solution.