Prezzo Ruto 'red-carded' by youth, even before the whistle is blown

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Before “Niko Kadi” became a national fad, I heard a striking quip that older Kenyans need to hear a little more: Young Kenyans are not interested in mobilising older folks to vote. They are only keen on getting their peers to the ballot.

I thought this was a foolish and arrogant attitude because, as Ngugi wa Thiong’o, my departed friend, advised, Gen-Z patriots should reckon that one does not become a revolutionary by being born into a generation. It’s one’s deeds that turn one into a revolutionary.

I am beginning to modify my judgment by listening more intently to what young Kenyans are saying. They reckon that what the country needs is a clean break from a past where one’s ethnicity is not cynically exploited for political expediency.

Without exception, the current mobilisation by all political formations is centred around the idea of regional tribal chieftains who will whip their communities behind one queue, as one herds sheep goats are likely to be more independent-minded and install the next leader to State House.

The thinking behind this strategy, very analogical and misguided, has been that young folks are not interested in moving away from their keyboards and notepads to do the actual work of registering as voters and queuing up to cast a ballot under scorching sun and swirling dust.

These murmurs reached them, so they arrived in droves to register, adding some 250k new voters in recent weeks. In fact, the biggest lament has been that the electoral body hasn’t been adequately prepared to deal with the swollen number of registrations.

And since Prezzo Bill Ruto likes to keep his ear to the ground, nothing escapes his attention, as one can attest from his meddling in just about everything he announced this week that he’s also “kadi,” invoking the voter registration drive.

One of the young chaps behind the youth mobilisation offered an unscripted response: If Prezzo Ruto has a card, it must be the “red card,” meaning he’s been sent off even before the match begins for some grave transgression. It doesn’t get clearer than that, does it?