Gen Z have sowed seeds of reforms in our governance

 

When hundreds of youth took to the streets in protest demanding accountability by state officers. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

A revolution is not a one-season event. For a complete change to sweep a deeply entrenched system of beliefs, conduct, and management of public affairs, there must be consistency of action, focus on goals and clarity of vision.

Resilience on the part of revolutionaries or freedom fighters is imperative. The struggle is riddled with perils, trials, and innumerable temptations to compromise. Some fall along the way, yet the brave ones win the prize of liberty for the people. 

The seed of people’s power may germinate in one place over a single instance of excessive force by the police which triggers a chain of events. A grievance that resonates with a cross-section of citizens, which when raised, triggers an avalanche of other long-standing demands, which turns into a united national movement for change. 

Notwithstanding the strength of force exerted by those in power, once a seed of revolution germinates in the psyche of the people, it never dies. It might get delayed, but eventually, it sees the light of day.

Like in the Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, some in the change movement may be intimidated, jailed or even killed, but the revolution remains alive and conscious that there’s a price to pay. The remaining warriors may feel the need to retreat, re-energise, and re-strategise.  

The state deploys windmills of propaganda and slander. Revolutionaries are branded agents of foreign interests. They are labelled as mercenaries and traitors. They are baptised as anarchists and lackeys sponsored by dubious NGOs and targeted for abduction, torture, and elimination. 

Young patriots are dismissed as urchins and idlers. Fortunately, the revolution remains cautious and vigilant. It is a game for those with thick skin. But there’s progress among the silent majority.

Then a little spark, maybe an accident caused by poor state of roads, exorbitant taxation of essential commodities or an arrogant outburst by a member of the regime becomes the epicentre by which erupts an unstoppable volcano of civil disobedience. Everyone joins in the national movement, which mercilessly sweeps the ruling tyrants into the lake of shame and ignominy. 

The history of Kenya is not different from what is described above. The masses rose against an entrenched tyranny in the mid-80s and early 1990s. Led by then young Turks, they fought for second liberation, and they achieved multi-party democracy.

The push did not end there. The forces of social progress utilised the liberated democratic space to further the cause of change. The ultimate prize of that generation was the attainment of the 2010 Constitution. The promise of a new dawn seemed real. 

However, 14 years later, it has dawned on the country that the new dawn is increasingly turning into a mirage. This reality has woken another generation of young Kenyans into a fate of revolutionary national duty.

Gen Z has accepted the duty that history has bestowed upon them with honour and courage. So far, major changes have occurred in our body politik. The momentum is irreversible. Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat its mistakes. Just watch this space.

The writer is a professor at Multimedia University of Kenya