Can youth break Kenya's politics-as-usual cycle?
Politics
By
Jacob Ochiro
| Oct 19, 2026
Kenya’s Gen Z have proved they can shake the political establishment. The harder test is whether they can turn that power into votes, win nominations, finance credible candidates and influence who governs after the August 10, 2027 election.
The 2024 protests against the Finance Bill united young people around a powerful rejection of the political status quo. Declaring themselves tribeless, partyless and leaderless, they mobilised across ethnic and political lines, forced President William Ruto to withdraw the Bill and put accountability at the centre of national debate.
The momentum, however, did not automatically translate into an organised political force. The formation of the broad-based Government reshaped the political landscape, while some prominent figures associated with the protests moved into established political formations. The movement’s ability to sustain a common agenda and negotiate from a position of strength was left in question.
Online activism continued, keeping government spending, taxation and constitutional accountability under scrutiny. Then, in 2026, voter registration offered young people another opportunity to turn their influence into electoral power.
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The Tuko Kadi initiative, led by youth activists Allans Ademba and Sophie Njehia, rallied young Kenyans to register as voters during the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s enhanced continuous voter registration exercise. The campaign carried a simple message: young people who wanted to shape the country’s future had to be ready to vote.
As the initiative gained traction, politicians moved to associate themselves with its slogan. During the groundbreaking of the Kisumu–Malaba Standard Gauge Railway in March, President Ruto invoked the phrase “Tuko tayari na tuko kadi”, signalling that his political camp was also ready for the youth vote.
Democracy for the Citizens Party leader Rigathi Gachagua similarly adopted the Tuko Kadi slogan and mobilised young people to register, including a group that visited IEBC offices in Karatina. Following criticism over the perceived appropriation of the initiative, he apologised to Gen Z.
“I want to tell the Gen Zs to forgive us for having hijacked your slogan Tuko Kadi. We have no ill will; we were just envious,” he said.
The episode exposed the political value of a youth-led campaign before its organisers had demonstrated how they intended to convert that attention into a coordinated electoral strategy.
At the end of the registration exercise, which ran from March 30 to April 28, the IEBC reported 2,345,476 new voters. The figure marked an important step towards participation, but it did not answer the questions that will shape the 2027 contest: who will these voters support, what will influence their choices and can young people win political power on their own terms?
Money is one of the biggest barriers facing young people who want to move from activism into elective politics. Campaigns require resources for party nominations, transport, publicity, agents, mobilisation and security. These costs can put candidates without wealthy backers at a disadvantage long before voters cast their ballots.
Kenya’s Campaign Financing Act was intended to regulate political expenditure and promote a more level playing field. Yet the practical effect of the law remains a central question as the country approaches another election. The IEBC has gazetted spending limits for different elective seats, but the extent to which the framework will be implemented and enforced needs scrutiny.
A 2022 study by the Institute of Multiparty Democracy, The Cost of Politics in Kenya, estimated that a parliamentary aspirant needed about Sh28.8 million to contest an MP seat, while an MCA candidate required approximately Sh3.89 million. Transport, including four-wheel-drive vehicles and campaign trucks, was among the largest expenses; publicity and advertising also accounted for substantial costs.
Wanjiku Thiga, the Democracy for the Citizens Party’s national youth leader, says money was among the factors that undermined her unsuccessful bid for the Theta ward seat in Juja Constituency.
“For you to truly win an MCA seat in Kenya, it costs about Sh8 million. I spent Sh3 million and it was a broke campaign. For constituency level, you can go as high as Sh50 million for MP, Woman Rep or Senator,” she says.
Thiga says the cost depends on the locality, with urban campaigns often requiring more resources. Her estimates are based on her experience and should be distinguished from official spending limits and independently verified campaign expenditure.
The IEBC’s gazetted spending limits offer another measure of the financial demands of elective politics. Under the formula cited in the notice, population accounts for 70 per cent of the calculation and land area for 30 per cent. North Horr Constituency was assigned the highest MP campaign ceiling at Sh100.42 million, while Wundanyi had the lowest at Sh15.43 million. MCA limits ranged from Sh3.49 million to Sh22.1 million.
Party nomination fees add to the burden. The fees vary by party, elective seat and category of aspirant, with some parties offering lower rates to young people and persons with disabilities. For example, the 2027 fees cited by aspirants under Wiper Patriotic Front and DCP differ, while UDA’s 2022 nomination schedule required youth aspirants seeking an MP seat to pay Sh125,000 and those seeking an MCA seat Sh25,000.
The amounts paid to secure a party ticket are only the beginning. Candidates must still recruit agents, travel across their wards or constituencies, communicate their policies and mobilise voters. Those who emerge victorious from primaries face the costs of the general election, often against opponents with established networks and deeper pockets.
Thiga argues that changing the system also requires voters to reject the politics of handouts.
“We need to move away from money politics. We need to be super serious about changing our country. If you are still thinking about handouts, you are killing our dream,” she says.
Her challenge is directed at both candidates and voters. If young people want different leadership, they must confront the financial practices that make political competition expensive and can encourage candidates to prioritise recovering campaign costs over serving the public.
While money is one part of the equation, the protests of 2024 demonstrated the strength of decentralised mobilisation, but the absence of a recognised leadership structure also complicated the movement’s ability to negotiate with the Government and sustain a common political agenda.
Wanjira Wanjiru, a youth advocate and founder of Mathare Social Justice Centre, says young people missed an opportunity to organise after the protests.
“When we were protesting, we said we were leaderless, but after the protests, we should have quickly consolidated and formed some sort of leadership for the young people so that we could have bargaining power,” she says.
The concern was that established politicians might co-opt youth leaders and weaken the movement’s independence. Yet the lack of a clear mechanism for collective decision-making also made it difficult to identify who could speak for the protesters or negotiate on their behalf.
The Government’s response to the protests, including changes to the Cabinet, unfolded without a clearly mandated youth leadership structure at the negotiating table. The appointment of Eric Mugaa, then aged 32, as Cabinet Secretary for Water and Irrigation gave a young leader a senior government position, but did not resolve the broader question of youth representation in political decision-making.
The challenge persists within political parties, where youth leagues can provide a platform but rarely determine the direction of party leadership. Young people may be mobilised during campaigns without gaining meaningful influence over nominations, policy priorities or appointments.
Leadership and governance analyst Professor Gitile Naituli says Senator Edwin Sifuna has found an audience among young people by speaking to their concerns about constitutionalism, public administration and the rule of law.
“Sifuna is addressing their agenda. Their agenda was a lack of constitutionalism, the management of public affairs and the idea of running the country without the rule of law,” Naituli says.
Since Sifuna’s expulsion from ODM, his Linda Mwananchi movement has attracted attention among sections of the youth. On October 13, the movement appointed young members, including Charity Waweru, popularly known as Gen Z Baddie, and Fredah Onduso, to its digital media and publicity team.
Other groups are organising around President Ruto. Vijana na Ruto, Vijana wa Rais and Warembo na Rais are among the youth-facing initiatives seeking to mobilise support for the President and promote the Government’s record. Their activities demonstrate that young people are not aligned behind one political project, and that the contest for their support is already under way.
The debate over youth representation was also evident at the unveiling of Sifuna’s The Equitable Party. Speaking on behalf of young people, Onduso called for a 30 per cent stake for youth in government. Other leaders at the event proposed even higher levels of representation.
“If you form the Government, that Government should be 60 per cent youth and women. We need to give a new direction to this country,” said Kitutu Masaba MP Clive Gisairo.
Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale went further, saying: “The youth of the Republic of Kenya are 75 per cent and now that they’ve identified a President, we should give them 100 per cent and then they’ll decide what they can give us, the senior citizens of this country.”
“Power is never given; it is taken. Now they have a good candidate, so they have an opportunity to take power in 2027. They need to focus now,” Naituli says.
He argues that young people still need organisation capable of translating their numbers into votes. But that organisation need not mean a single leader or political vehicle. It could also involve issue-based coalitions, transparent candidate selection, voter education and sustained scrutiny of elected officials.
Wanjiru warns that politicians have long exploited economic hardship to draw young people into violent mobilisation and political intimidation.
She argues that young people are often criminalised without sufficient attention to the conditions and political incentives that make them vulnerable to recruitment.
Her prescription is for the same energy that powers street protests to be channelled into protecting the electoral process, including recruiting and training agents to monitor polling stations and report irregularities.
One initiative seeking to address the trust deficit in elections is The People’s IEBC, a digital vote-tallying system developed by Kenyan technology innovator Daniel Miringa.
Miringa says the system was piloted during the Ol Kalou by-election and is intended to help independently verify results by using image-processing technology to read forms, extract figures and tally results.
He adds the initiative is now focused on recruiting agents across polling stations ahead of the 2027 presidential election, with the number of stations expected to exceed 40,000.
As political alliances begin to take shape, ethnic mobilisation remains a familiar feature of Kenya’s electoral landscape. Nyandarua Senator John Methu recently argued on Citizen TV that ethnic arithmetic would continue to influence the 2027 contest, even as voters increasingly focus on specific concerns.
“Politics has evolved but not fully. People have unique problems and it is those unique problems that put them together,” he said.
Naituli is sceptical that Gen Z will remain outside established ethnic voting patterns when the election arrives. He argues that young voters may ultimately align with familiar political blocs, although he believes many will also want to remove the current regime.
The 2024 protests showed that young Kenyans can force the political establishment to listen. The Tuko Kadi campaign has offered a route from protest to voter registration. The next phase will demand organisation, resources and a clear accountability agenda.