Gen Z protests: The difficult question that no one seems to have an answer

Anti-Finance bill protestors match along the streets of Nairobi on June 26, 2024. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Who will pay Kenya's Sh10 trillion debt is the hard question no one is answering. The President alluded to that in his speeches with a plan to free Kenya from debt. His plan seems to be, "make sacrifices today so that tomorrow can be better and debt-free." It does not matter who incurred the debts, they will be paid. Even with a task force to audit our debts, they will still be paid!

By raising taxes and prudently using them, we could one day pay all debts and hopefully start lending money to other countries. Why did such a novel idea backfire so badly with protests and even deaths? What next for our debt, now taking so much of our tax revenues? Over 60 per cent.

One issue was communication, even the president admitted. Even the best idea can fail depending on how it's communicated. Does it surprise you that Kibaki started by making us feel proud and patriotic before taxing us? Paying taxes became a noble duty and patriotic.