The old adage that “the children are our future” is often dismissed as
sentimental rhetoric, but history repeatedly proves otherwise.
The phrase was
immortalised in modern culture by Whitney Houston in her 1985 classic Greatest
Love of All in which she sang with conviction that children should be
taught well and allowed to “lead the way”.
Today’s Gen Z may not know Whitney or fully appreciate how culturally
dominant she once was, but they are the very generation she was talking about —
the children who are now grown.
Of course, every generation once occupied that
role. From biblical times onward, societies have always produced younger
cohorts destined to inherit power, even as older generations often dismissed
them as inexperienced or naïve.
That tension has always existed in politics. Young people are frequently
treated as politically immature until they suddenly become politically
decisive.
Kenya itself has seen this before. One of the most consequential youth
political mobilisations in history emerged in the early 1990s through the
infamous Youth for Kanu ’92 movement, a
political machine created to secure President Daniel arap Moi’s victory during the country’s first
major multiparty election. Among the prominent figures associated with that
operation was a young activist named William Ruto.
YK ’92 was not merely a youth movement in the modern civic sense. It was
a political mobilisation structure built around patronage, propaganda,
intimidation and financial inducements.
Flush with enormous resources, the
movement distributed cash, organised rallies, dominated messaging spaces and
aggressively framed Moi as the indispensable guarantor of stability when Kenya
was entering uncertain democratic territory.
Critics long argued that the movement
normalised transactional politics among the youth while weaponising economic
desperation for political ends.
Yet YK ’92 also demonstrated something else: youth are not politically
irrelevant spectators. They are instruments of power — either for reform or for
entrenchment.
That is why today’s Gen Z voter registration trends matter far beyond
raw numbers. Kenya entered the 2022 election with about 22 million registered voters, but youth registration significantly
lagged behind the eligible population.
Millions of younger Kenyans who were
eligible to vote never registered. The current registration drive has improved
the numbers considerably, with more than 2.6 million new voters reportedly
added since registration resumed.
But if Gen Z intends to shape the 2027 election rather than merely trend
online between election cycles, registration must become a strategic political
project rather than a symbolic civic exercise.
The key battlegrounds are obvious and there is no need to name them
other than to say the Gen Z participation may prove more politically decisive than other
demographics. But registration alone is insufficient.
Political organisation
matters. The United Opposition cannot make the mistake of thinking that Gen Z’s
frustration automatically translates into anti-government votes. History
suggests otherwise. Youth anger is politically valuable only when it is
structured, protected, financed, and converted into turnout.
And this is where the danger lies in underestimating Ruto.
Unlike the major principals in the United Opposition from which one may
emerge as its flagbearer to take on the President, Ruto came of age politically
inside one of the most sophisticated youth mobilisation operations Kenya has
ever seen. He understands the mechanics of youth persuasion, patronage
networks, political messaging and organisational discipline.
The United Opposition strategists should therefore not be surprised if,
as 2027 approaches, elements of the old YK ’92 playbook re-emerge in modernised
form: aggressive propaganda ecosystems, targeted financial inducements, digital
influence campaigns, state-backed patronage and intimidation tactics designed
both to fracture Gen Z cohesion and blunt opposition outreach.
History rarely repeats itself exactly. But it often echoes loudly enough
for those paying attention. To pay attention now is to do what one might as
well assume the United Opposition is doing under the radar.
What is curiously
interesting — and this should be the warning ¾ is there
doesn’t appear to be any thuggish, in-your-face efforts to frustrate, thwart or
altogether defeat a surge in Gen Z voter registration. It’s a good thing, but
it’s also a warning that someone may be sitting pretty somewhere waiting to
play a card they know or are confident that once they play it, there won’t be a
comeback.
