The widespread protests we have witnessed this week against the pernicious proposals in the Finance Bill, 2024, have shattered several long-held assumptions.
Chief among them is the myth, held by economist David Ndii and others in President William Ruto’s close circle, that digital activism is all bark and no bite. This notion was decisively dispelled this week as Kenya’s digitally savvy youth flooded the streets, demanding a wholesale rejection of the Finance Bill. The protests have forced a hasty climbdown from the Kenya Kwanza administration, but it appears the demonstrators are just getting started.
This surge of civic engagement, driven by a generation fluent in the language of social media and online mobilisation, underscores a critical shift in the balance of power. The government can no longer afford to ignore the voices echoing through digital platforms, as they now translate into tangible action on the ground. Failure to do so risks further alienating a population that has discovered the potency of its collective voice and is unafraid to use it.
All signs are that a normally apathetic constituency made of Kenya’s millennials and Gen Zs has been awakened from its slumber and is ready to challenge the entrenched powers that be. The disillusionment of Kenya’s youth with the elites is not without cause. They have seen an embarrassing gap slowly emerge between the country politicians promise them and the one they deliver. This gap has fuelled a sense of urgency and impatience for change.
We should have all seen it coming. Martin Gurri, a former CIA media analyst, anticipated this seismic shift in his 2014 book, The Revolt Of The Public And The Crisis Of Authority In The New Millennium. Gurri's prescient analysis highlights how digital tools have made it easier for the citizens to see that the Emperor has no clothes.
For example, the notion of "austerity for thee but none for me" has lost its potency in an era where transparency is a click away and citizens can instantly track a politician’s flight and easily tally the cost of their luxurious possessions, and compare it with the dire state of public services.
As Gurri and other astute observers of the public square have noted, the smartphone era has ushered in a new age of public empowerment and elite scepticism. At the forefront of this movement are Kenya’s youth. They are demanding a future that aligns with their ideals of fairness, transparency, accountability and respect for the rights enshrined in the 2010 Constitution.
Instead of deploying the police against them, the Kenya Kwanza administration should adopt an enlightened view of the protesters. These demonstrations should be seen as a crucial feedback loop that must prompt the government to adjust accordingly to meet the expectations of a digitally connected and increasingly disillusioned populace.
Ignoring these signals could lead to a rude awakening in 2027. In the 2022 general election, 35 per cent of the 22.12 million registered voters abstained from the ballot. These eight million potential voters are more than enough to sway the outcome of an election. They could turn the prospect of a one-term Ruto presidency, an unprecedented political scenario in our 60-year-old republic, into a reality.
On Tuesday morning, the warning about this possibility came from inside State House itself. Speaking at the Kenya Kwanza parliamentary group meeting, Embu Governor and chairperson of the ruling United Democratic Alliance party, Cecily Mbarire, delivered a stark warning. She cautioned against letting unchecked political ambition and hubris obstruct the fulfilment of campaign promises.
“For me, the most important [thing] is to make sure our team leader, William Samoei Ruto, gets a second term,” Mbarire said, drawing applause from the room.
“And he can only get a second term when he delivers and gets this country out of where it is right now. That is the truth.”
One can only hope someone is listening.
Lawyer and media practitioner