The rise of Kenya's Gen Z, their impact on Africa and the world

When a secytion of youth participated in the countreywide protests on July 2, 2024. [Benjamin Sakwa, Standard]

In 2002, Kenya's third president, Mwai Kibaki, implemented the Free Primary Education programme, as well as overseeing the complete transition from primary to secondary school. This unprecedented move, which I witnessed firsthand as one of his Cabinet Ministers, radically transformed Kenya's educational environment. 

For the first time since gaining Independence from Britain in 1963, a child born anywhere in the country was entitled to an education. Before this, basic education was limited and considered a privilege in my country.

I am proud to say that the first beneficiaries of this incredible equalisation opportunity are Generation Z, also known as Gen Z; children born between 1997 and 2012. 

Kenya's social and economic landscape has seen tremendous changes, with varying effects on all levels of society. Notably, my country has undergone a seismic demographic shift.

Over the last 22 years, as the literacy rates in Kenya have risen, so too have the expectations of millions of Gen Z graduates from universities and colleges, as well as those with polytechnic diplomas and certificates.

Allow me to refer to the Kibaki administration once more. 

In addition to the Free Primary Education initiative, we developed a well-thought-out long-term blueprint for Kenya, motivated by a shared desire for a better society that we called Vision 2030. President Kibaki was confident that we could transform Kenya into a newly industrialising, middle-income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens in a clean and secure environment in 28 years.

I also had the privilege and honour of serving my nation and President Kibaki as the tenth Vice President of the Republic of Kenya from January 9, 2008 to April 9, 2013. It is instructive that during the Kibaki Administration period, our country's economic growth accelerated from 0.6% to 7.1%. We revitalised manufacturing and industry. We expanded electricity connections from 680,000 in 2003 to 2.1 million for household and business connections in 2013. 

Our policies increased access to financial services from one million to over 20 million previously unbanked persons. More crucially, these 20 million Kenyans were able to obtain credit, allowing them to start and grow their small and medium-sized enterprises, resulting in greater job opportunities in the formal sector.

By 2013, there were 14 million Kenyans with internet connectivity, up from less than 250,000 in 2003. Significantly, and by the time we left office, 30 million Kenyans had access to mobile services, up from 3 million. The Kibaki Administration created three million new jobs in both formal and informal sectors during this transformative period.

There therefore was evidentiary hope for Kenya’s Gen Z that their hard work in school would be rewarded with high-quality employment. Kenya’s Generation Z had faith that they would have higher standards of living and could contribute to the improvement of our welfare state as was envisioned in Vision 2030. Kenya’s Gen Z trusted because their elder Millennial brothers and sisters were a demonstration of proof of concept. 

Unfortunately, in the last few years, young Kenyans’ ambitions and dreams for their next stage of life have been replaced by despair, despondency and pessimism.

Runaway corruption by the William Ruto-led administration has negatively impacted political, social, and economic development. Poor economic management has hindered Kenya’s progress. The current regime has increased the tax burden on Kenyans in an illthought-out attempt to plug the deficit gaps.  This has resulted in capital flight as manufacturers close their doors, lay of staff and relocate to neighbouring countries with more favourable tax policies. In addition, investors are becoming increasingly concerned about Kenya's debt accumulation and credit rating downgrades.

All these factors combined have contributed to decreased investments, reduced income levels, and an overall lower standard of living. More important and devastating is the increase in unemployment rates in the country.

Consider this: In Kenya, those under thirty-five constitute 80 per cent of the population, and of the 12 per cent of the population who are unemployed, more than two-thirds belong to this youth demographic.

Allow me to once again refer to the Kibaki Administration.  In June 2009, we purposely laid the 5,000 km East African Maritime System (TEAMS); a fibre optic undersea cable system from Mombasa to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, which linked Kenya to the rest of the world.

We then subsidised broadband prices for all institutions of higher learning, both public and private.  Following that, we launched the Kenya Open Data Initiative, which had far-reaching ramifications for science and technology and beyond, resulting in unprecedented efficiencies in the public and private sectors. Because of this investment, all 47 counties in Kenya have an access network, and at least 85 per cent of people have access to 4G.

Today, Kenya has one of the highest internet connectivity rates in the region, leading the African continent in mobile Internet users with a penetration rate of 83%. Disenchanted and alienated by their political leaders, the tech-savvy, and socially conscious Generation Zs patience with the current regime’s policies and practices that disproportionately affected them, finally ran out. 

In addition to the Finance Bill 2024, the youths were concerned about the excesses of the William Ruto regime, such as tribalism and nepotism, bad governance, rampant corruption, outrageous opulence, and an executive concerned with racking up frequent flier miles. 

The Gen Zs determination to be seen and heard was unexpected.  The beneficiaries of Kibaki’s foresight, used social media platforms, the likes of X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram and TikTok, to Call to Action. They rallied behind the hashtag #RejectFinanceBill2024 and urged their parliamentary representatives to vote against the Bill. 

When it became evident that the ‘keyboard approach’ had fallen on deaf ears, they resorted to sharing MP's mobile numbers online, encouraging constituents to bombard their lines with calls, texts, and M-Pesa – mobile money - donations.  These mobile ‘visits’ were unprecedented. While Gen Z termed them ‘acts of public participation’, incessantly indignant MPs deemed it a violation of their data privacy rights. 115 legislators listened to their constituents and changed their vote from Yes to No. A majority 204 however did not. 

Triggered by Parliament’s overwhelming approval of the Bill, the Gen Zs chose to actively exercise their constitutional rights, specifically Articles 1 and 37 of Kenya's Constitution. Article 1 (1) states that “All sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya and shall be exercised only by this Constitution.” (2) states that “The people may exercise their sovereign power either directly or through their democratically elected representatives.”

Further, Article 37 affirms that “Every person has the right, peaceably and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket, and to present petitions to public authorities.”

Generation Z defied traditional prejudices, including the notion that they lack ambition. They rose to the Call to Action inspired by the Thomas Jefferson paraphrased quotation: “When injustice becomes law, non-violent resistance becomes duty.” Generation Z - who said that they were leaderless, faceless, partyless and tribeless - armed themselves with the Kenyan flag, a bottle of water, and their smartphones, and took to the streets and “OCCUPIED KENYA” on June 18.

Their use of Zello, a push-to-talk walkie-talkie app, that served as a real-time communication and co-ordination tool, kept the state security agents guessing and bewildered as to their locations.  The Gen Zs defiance when the police resorted to lobbing teargas canisters at them was one of the defining moments of the Resistance Movement. Instead of running away, they painted their faces with toothpaste to mitigate against the toxic gas.  Faced with menacing police water cannons that blasted torrents of dyed water at them, the fearless youth held their ground, determined to march to Parliament and be heard.

On June 25, - seven days into the protest – enraged by the fatal police shooting of Rex Kanyeki Masai as well as the arrests of over 200 youth; Gen Zs Occupied and, in my view, Impeached Parliament.  In 7 days, they accomplished what their parents and relatives, and yes, The Opposition, or political-elite-led demonstrations have been unable to do for decades.  Because of them, President Ruto declined to sign the punitive Finance Bill 2024 into law, stating that “the people have spoken” and sent it back to Parliament. 

Because Kenya's Generation Z refused to be intimidated by police bullets, teargas canisters, batons, and the prospect of abduction, and death, the Inspector General of the Kenya Police Services tendered his resignation. Due to their unrelenting protest, the Cabinet was disbanded and the Government Spokesperson apologized unreservedly for public officials' extravagant, wanton spending and opulence.  Notably, and because of Generation Z, the President of Kenya was grounded in Nairobi for the first time since taking office two years ago, and was barricaded in State House, Nairobi.

It is my opinion that this tech-savvy and socially conscious youth have irrevocably transformed the political and socio-economic discussion in Kenya forever.  Consider this: Even while the number of demonstrators has decreased—that is, on Kenyan streets—Gen Z has inspired interest groups, including professional bodies that had been ostensibly silent, into coming out of their cocoons to legally oppose the status quo and demand change.

In many ways, Kenya’s Gen Z are trailblazers like Betty Pettersson, who was Uppsala University’s and Sweden’s first female student in 1871. Ms. Petterson’s letter and petition for an exemption to King Karl XV in 1870 shattered a glass ceiling, giving women the right to study at universities. Kenya's Generation Z-led revolution, like Ms. Petterson's for Swedish women scholars, has empowered young people across Africa who feel alienated by their governments. Their example has sparked and motivated movements for change among Generation Z and Millennials in Africa and around the world.

On August 1, for example, Nigerian youth known as ‘Soro Seke’ or the ‘Speak Up Generation’, planned a ten-day nationwide protest. They demanded that the cost of food, fuel and education go down and be in the reach of people. Like Kenya’s Gen Z, ‘Soro Seke’ declared that they have no tribe, region, or religious affiliations; the three biggest factors in the West African nation’s politics. In Ghana, legislators talked about the events in Kenya and contrasted them with their own financial circumstances, which had compelled the government to miss debt payments. On August 5, 6,400 km away from Kenya, Bangladesh Gen Z stormed the Ganabhaban (People’s House) after a month of protest called “The 2024 Bangladesh quota reform” and ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who had ruled for 15 years. From the resilient rise of Gen Zs in Kenya, however, there has been a disproportionate increment in the use of excessive force by Kenya’s police service. During the protests in 2023 and 2024, over 125 young Kenyans lost their lives to police bullets. Up to date, no security officer has been charged and prosecuted. The victims’ families are yet to receive any form of justice.

I also have to bring up the sharp increase in kidnappings and abductions during that period, which appears to have been caused by a more authoritarian and intolerant regime that is trying to silence any of its opponents, regardless of age. I urge the international community here, where Dag Hammarskjöld honed his values and commitment to "the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms" — as stated in the Preamble of the UN Declaration of Human Rights — to join us in condemning these acts and demanding an immediate cessation of the Ruto regime's illegal activities.

In conclusion, let me say that the Gen Z revolts at home and abroad demonstrate that the youth will no longer remain silent about the state of their country's affairs. They have demonstrated at great cost, that inaction is no longer an option if we want a more inclusive, cooperative, and adaptive country, whether in Kenya, Nigeria, Bangladesh, or even Sweden.