Coast women to lead peace campaigns across the country

The launch of Mama Kenya Movement peace ambassadors at Mombasa Women Hall on Tuesday / BRIAN OTIENO

Women will determine whether the country will have peace or chaos, a group in Mombasa has said.

The group, known as Mama Kenya Movement, wants to sensitise youth and women across the Coast and the entire country on the path to sustainable peace.

Director Amina Ridhwani said the youth are an educated lot, who need a listening ear from the government.

“Peace is not the absence of war. Peace entails many things and to build peace, everyone must feel they are heard by the government,” she said.

Ridhwani spoke during the launch of Mama Kenya Movement peace ambassadors at the Mombasa Women Hall in Kizingo on Tuesday.

The movement works in partnership with other organisations in Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

“We have to search for peace in Kenya, come what may. Without peace, nothing will move forward,” Ridhwani said.

She said the peace ambassadors will move door-to-door amid the rising tension between Gen Z and the leadership to try and diffuse the anger that many harbour in their hearts.

The campaigns will ensure political, social, community and religious leaders sign peace contracts, which they will have to religiously adhere to.

Kenya, she said, was once seen as the beacon of peace in the Horn of Africa, East Africa and East and Central Africa.

“But that image is now slowly disappearing, giving room for an unpleasant image that might potentially scare investors away,” Ridhwani said.

The deaths and injuries witnessed recently during protests are unnecessary, she said.

“These could have been avoided had there been sobriety on both the authorities and the protesters,” she said.

Ridhwani said the most important thing is information, which she said is not being given to the youth properly as it should be.

She said the government could be doing a lot of things that would benefit the women and youth in Kenya, but that information does not reach the grassroots people in good time and in the right language.

“Things like SHA are working but who is there to explain how SHA works? Yes, at first there were teething problems but these are being addressed but who is there to explain this to the people?” she said.

The government, she said, does not inspire confidence in people and that is why they find it difficult to get to the people at the grassroots.

This, Ridhwani said, leaves room for politicians to manipulate whatever information they have to their advantage.

Women and youth funds are available aplenty but how to access these funds is the issue, she noted, adding that the government has to find the right people to explain the things they do to the people and have them understand.

“But we have grassroots leaders in our movement who have the trust of the people and who could help decipher certain information to the people at the grassroots,” Ridhwani said.

This came as nominated Senator Miraj Abdillahi urged grassroots leaders to have a meaningful conversation with the youth and women so there can be an understanding between the government and citizens.

“The government could be doing so much on the ground but if there is no one to interpret these things to the people, how will they know,” she said.

Abdillahi said the Kenya Kwanza regime’s bottom-up approach is the best but trust issues have risen.

“It is these trust issues that need to be addressed. Because once trust disappears, it is usually hard to bring it back. It takes a lot of time,” she said.

She urged the Gen Z to take a second and review their relationship with their elders and leaders to come up with better ways to engage, ways that do not involve destruction of property or give room for goons to take advantage of situations.

INSTANT ANALYSIS

There is a gap between the leadership of the country and the youth. This gap, if left unaddressed, will continue to widen to a point where there will be no communication, relationship or meeting point between the two. That will be the end of the society.