President on the cross, firmly in Gen Z crosshairs for doublespeak

Gen Z protests on the streets of Kakamega on July 2, 2024. [Benjamin Sakwa, Standard]

Last year’s anti-government protests by the Opposition tested President William Ruto’s patience.

This year’s organic and formless youth movement has tested his commitment to solve everything going wrong in his administration.

The Head of State has started engaging the youth, and hosted an X Space debate, and is expected to take stock of his implementation of demands by Generation Z and Millennial protesters. 

Ruto has had three weeks to address concerns that evolved from a spirited rejection of the Finance Bill, 2024, and there are concerns that he is not serious about the talks.

Such stems from the continued violent suppression of protesters and the abductions of social media influencers supporting the protests.

On Tuesday, Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement questioned the president’s commitment, given the environment created by the abductions and the police’s heavy-handed response to unarmed protesters.

“Nobody believes what the president is saying. His actions and words are totally different... Many of the people he is looking to discuss with are in police custody,” said ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna, sentiments rights activist Boniface Mwangi shared.

“You can’t commit to dialogue when you are still abducting and killing Gen Zs and taking them to court. On Tuesday, he allowed goons to infiltrate the protests because they are serving a political purpose... and making people scared to come and exercise their constitutional right,” said Mwangi.

National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi faulted the government’s approach to engaging the youth as “outdated”.

“The government is used to divide-and-rule tactics, which might not work. They are dealing with a different crop and different form of movement,” said Wandayi in reference to the suppression.

Ruto’s move to initiate the Bill’s withdrawal gave signals that he would yield in other aspects. He promised as much when he refused to assent to the unpopular Bill, announcing austerity measures that would sweep through the Executive.

Similarly, he committed to tackling corruption. But there are concerns that he is paying lip service to the demands by the Kenyan youth. His move to set up a dialogue committee with the youth has faced criticism, amid speculation that he did not intend to address the grievances raised.

“I have never been a keen fan of commissions and committees because whenever there is a crisis and the government forms such ventures, you almost feel as though it is a way of not getting something done. We have so many reports of everything in Kenya,” former Law Society of Kenya President Eric Theuri said during an interview on Citizen TV yesterday. 

Barely a week into Ruto’s pronouncements, the country was up in arms over plans to increase salaries for the president, his Cabinet and Members of Parliament, courtesy of a gazette notice published on August 9, 2023. That followed demands for pay cuts among government officials.

News reports of corruption within government agencies involving health insurance claims, donated fertiliser and smart driving licences, among others, have sparked anger among the masses.

Indeed, the Gen Z and Millennials had demanded an end to corruption, seeking the sacking of corrupt officials, and pushing for austerity measures with some offices they deem unnecessary scrapped. Among them include those of the first lady, second lady and the spouse of the prime cabinet secretary.

They also demanded that the chief administrative secretary positions and the multiple advisers be done away with.

“I will deal with some of the issues you have raised. You have given me some difficult choices. I will suggest to you how we can together go about the difficult choices you have put on the table on some of the issues,” Ruto said during an interview last Sunday.

On Friday, he reiterated that the process of recruiting CASs has been suspended.

The youth also made far-reaching proposals that now seem ignored. The most pressing of them all is the reconstitution of the electoral commission to facilitate the recalling of MPs. There seems to be no movement in that direction. Equally critical was the withdrawal of the housing levy, which seems off the table for the president.

“Gen Zs have made their demands and what would create goodwill is picking the low-hanging fruits, such as sacking corrupt officials, and implement them,” said LSK President Faith Odhiambo.

A consequence of cutting government wastage was funding critical other sectors, such as education and healthcare.

But as he announced his rejection of the Finance Bill, Ruto announced that development projects would take a Sh200 billion hit, stating that other sectors would face cuts, owing to the loss of some Sh346 billion the Bill aimed to raise.

But he would contradict himself by later claiming that the government would have to borrow Sh1 trillion, part of which would plug the Sh346 billion gap.

The Opposition, which has accused Ruto of blackmail, believes that more can be done.

“We, those of us on the minority side, have estimated that we can do away with at least Sh1 trillion in this budget and we don’t need to punish anyone. We just need to cut expenditure in our own institutions,” Sifuna said yesterday in Parliament, demanding an audit of the president’s appointments since he assumed office.

In an opinion article, scholar Philip Nying’uro challenged the Head of State to deal with known factors fanning the nationwide protests.

“The youth wonder why they should be asked to sacrifice in order to fund sleaze and extravagance among the political elite. The problem will not go away soon. The youth shall continue to agitate for their grievances to be addressed,” said Prof Nying’uro, proposing the implementation of specific measures to cut wastage at the national and county levels.

Mwangi, a vocal mobiliser of the protests, said the demands were straightforward and should not take much to implement.

“He should fire corrupt officials, cut down their salaries, remove the housing levy and have our national debt audited. He should also obey court orders, such as the one that stopped the deployment of police officers to Haiti and hire Junior Secondary School teachers and intern doctors,” he added.