Youth must become wiser this election year otherwise their agenda will be skewed once again

Youth attending a political rally.

The other day, I came across an article I penned for a different publication on January 7, 2014, and I was amused at how things to do with politics rarely change in Kenya.

Well, we can argue that they do, inasmuch as every election cycle, Parliament gets a new set of young thieves who are never ready to keep their promises.

We can also argue that things do change, for, every five years, the thieves become better at scamming Kenyans, or find newer avenues of fleecing Kenyans.

That piece was about the youth and how politicians use them during campaigns. Some of the people who promise to deliver them from poverty by coming up with youth-friendly policies are their peers.

These young men and women seeking political office use their age as a plank and tell the youth that they understand their problems better, and can solve their problems.

When they get elected, they forget the youth and the promises they made to them. They forget that they were meant to fight for their rights and solve their problems. Or at least try to.

But once comfortable in the office, they start passing anti-youth policies or turn a blind eye as such legislation that does not uplift their age mates are passed.

They hang around the older politicians — which is not a bad thing anyway because they are all thieves and have to learn from the best — and learn all the dirty tricks of shortchanging the public.

In the process, they become pawns in the battles between the veteran politicians, the foot soldiers who spew forth insults and, well, mobilise youthful voters into screaming slogans for handouts.

When the dust settles, their constituencies of the youth realise that it was hoodwinked. As they grow older, another set comes along and is lied to too.

In a sentence, the youth agenda gets skewed every day, and they end up empty-handed, many a time because they have agreed to be used. This election year, the Kenyan youth must wisen up.