Sh500 to cause chaos: Has society neglected the boy child?

Police officers block protestors from barricading Juja Road during the Azimio protests in Nairobi on March 30, 2023. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

On Monday, March 27, 2023, a politically motivated gang invaded former President Uhuru Kenyatta's farm, located in Ruiru, off Eastern Bypass.

Known as Northlands, the farm was looted - pictures of sheep from the farm being carried away are awash on social media - then torched.

There is no doubt that it was a political hit job; as it came after strong anti-Kenyatta comments from leaders affiliated with the Kenya Kwanza (KK) political outfit.

A close look at the images - both still pictures and videos - reveals something interesting: the gang was made up entirely of young men.

"The farm is about a kilometre away from where I live: I went to the farm. Yes, they were young men," says Rosemary Kinuthia, an activist for boy-child rights.

Apparently - if multiple sources are to be trusted - the gang was mobilised by political operatives who paid them Sh3, 000 each.

The simple explanation, therefore, goes that they were motivated by the pay; especially considering the prevailing harsh economic times.

However, Rosemary suspects something far more worrisome; young men have become increasingly neglected and gullible.

"Everyone is singing about girl-child rights. No one is talking about boy child," Rosemary says. "They are jobless, desperate, hungry, angry: making them easy targets for politicians to mobilise and misuse."

Indeed, who can forget the fracas at Kenol, Murang'a county, two years ago, where two young men, Christopher Kariuki 22, and Peter Mbothu 15, were killed?

President William Ruto, then a Deputy President, was visiting AIPCA Church in Kenol Town for a fundraiser when rival groups - largely comprised of young men - confronted each other.

At the end of it, Kariuki and Mbothu lay dead. Relatives and friends told the media that the two were not part of the rioting groups.

The question is: Why are young men available to do politicians' dirty jobs?

"The quick answer is that they are jobless and have nothing to do," says Dr Karatu Kiemo, a Sociology lecturer at the University of Nairobi. "But make no mistake; the problem is much deeper than that."

Kiemo says historically, young men have been politically active. The cultural and institutional systems, he says, have modelled them ready for high-octane politics.

Society, he says, has placed high expectations on young men but with very little support in return.

He explains: "The average male is looked upon as the provider for their household. Women, even those employed, are considered dependents by society.

"Men are expected to make things work; to drive the agenda and get things done. All the while, they are jobless, poor, hungry and idle.

"They, more than anyone else, feel the hopelessness and the brokenness, of public systems. They have untapped energy. Why else are young men captives to drugs, alcohol, gangs, and other ills in society?"

Kiemo reiterates that it is simplistic to think of the problem only as a money problem.

"The money they are paid is an after-the-fact benefit. The politicians chose what to pay them. But even if they were to be paid less, they would still do it.

"I have heard the term 'inciting' being used. In my assessment, the youth are not being incited: they are excited because they are already angry and hopeless".

"Think about it, today, it does not matter where or which politician is holding a rally: the stadium is always full. On a weekday no less. Whether it is Raila at Kasarani, or Ruto at Nyayo, or Kiraitu at Meru, the stadium is always full - on a working day," he says.

In 2021 November, Paul Kariuki (not his real name) got injured flanking a prominent politician, on a high chase, to a political meeting.

Kariuki was a boda-boda operator at the time.

He says: "We were coming from Jacaranda grounds heading to the 75 roundabouts just before Simba Village estate. We were a team of boda riders escorting the politician's Land Cruiser V8. Like 50 metres to the estate, a car joined the road from the left".

"Because we were at high speed, we panicked, and all of us on motorbikes swerved to the right. I ploughed head-on onto another boda moving in the opposite direction. I fell hard in the ditch, landing on my side, and breaking my hip."

Kariuki is now in need of amputation and has been told by his doctors that he cannot go back to boda-boda riding.

Kariuki and the other boda-boda operators - all young men in their twenties, he says - had been paid Sh500 by the politician.

"We have no stable jobs. At the same time, crime is risky. When politicians come with some money all of us want it," Kariuki told The Standard.

Mary Mugure, a political mobiliser in Mathare, says politicians know the despair of jobless youth.

"Let's not lie to each other; the economic situation is bad. There are no meaningful jobs for these young people. When they are mobilised at the behest of a politician, they will turn up," she says.

According to Mugure, in the slums, payment for the youth range from as low as Sh200 to Sh2, 000, "though some politicians with lots of money might give more."

Maendeleo ya Wanaume Secretary General, Nderitu Njoka, blames high unemployment, and the fact that historically, men have been used for chaos and war.

"Women most often do not risk life and limb. The majority of deaths that occur due to political gatherings are men," he says.

Kiemo says young men have a genetic disadvantage: they have a biological propensity to be lured into chaotic, high energy and risky operations.

"They have testosterone which drives them to easily face danger. Put that together with the fact that nothing is working for them, and have nothing to lose, they do not mind dying in these political operations," he says.

Deputy president's spouse Dorcas Rigathi is championing a boy child programme aimed at nurturing young men to be productive members of society.

On a few occasions, she has intimated that the boy's child has been neglected.

This January she said: "If you are to address the security of a nation, there is no way you are going to neglect the question of the boy child. The ones who are being radicalised are the boys more than the girls."

Njoka says that the solution to the problem of young men being misused by politicians would be to create enough meaningful job opportunities for them.

"When they are busy working and earning a living no one will take advantage of them," he says.

Dr. Kiemo and Rosemary share their sentiments.