While some criticised the move as opportunistic, the call by combined opposition to make June 25 a public holiday has seemingly produced the outcome the opposition desired, which is peaceful commemoration of the day from a year before when GenZ youth took to the streets to demonstrate against last year’s finance bill only to be met with violence and death.
A government that resorts to abductions, kidnappings, torture and murder to silence the opposition loses all legitimacy and henceforth remains a regime to be gotten rid of at the next polls in the eyes of all who value life, democracy and human rights.
A regime is, indeed, what we have on hand; abductions, torture and deaths of GenZ persist, with the most recent one being the death of Albert Ojwang, a teacher and influencer who was arrested, tortured and killed by police acting on “orders from above”.
Anticipating tens of thousands of demonstrators on the streets on this commemorative day, the Ruto regime deployed thousands of police, including the notorious General Service Unit and the Rapid Deployment Unit, flooding Nairobi with armed vehicles, water cannons and dog units.
In short, the regime turned Nairobi into a city under siege, with Parliament Road, State House Road, and surrounding government buildings under heavy security. Major roads were sealed off.
Government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura shamelessly declaring, “There will be no protests. Whoever wants to mark any anniversary or wants to protest can do it in their homes.”
Yet, despite all these efforts to repress, people of all ages took to the streets to mark the solemn day that will have a status no different from Saba Saba; in fact, one can make the case June 25th will henceforth be more remembered because what the GenZ started last years, put in motion forces that will transform the country come election day in 2027.
The protests are a renewed act of defiance. A year later, nothing has been resolved. Indeed, Majority Leader Kimani Ichungwa recently bragged that nearly everything that the GenZs protested in the Finance Bill, 2024 or more specifically, that 97 per cent of what GenZ opposed was quietly passed in December last year.
No wonder things have only been getting worse, with youth unemployment remaining at 67 per cent, the cost of living is still high and wages remain low. The transition from the National Health Insurance Fund to the Social Health Insurance Fund has made underfunded healthcare system worse even as the regime claims the opposite.
Meanwhile, following last year’s protests, ODM leader had a choice to join forces with the GenZ and chase Ruto out of State House or save Ruto from such an eventuality.
Raila seemingly made the easier decision – to save Ruto from being hounded out of office and formed a broad-based government.
Whatever its merits or demerits, BBG has become to Ruto what BBI became to former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila; indeed, a good case can be made BBG is worse for Ruto than BBI ever was for Uhuru and Raila, though both are political albatrosses.
Raila may have saved Ruto’s presidency—and what an irony that is, but the movement the GenZ started is unstoppable in meeting the young people’s ultimate objective, which is removing Ruto from office. Yes, there are those chanting “Ruto must go,” implying removal of Ruto from office now, but that is simply naïve.
Rather, what anyone who wants to have Ruto removed from office must do, is to organise, stay engaged and show up to vote come 2027.
As former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said, Kenya’s Gen Z should translate their energy and activism into concrete political engagement by registering to vote ahead of the next general election, emphasising that true impact lies not just in protest, but in participation.
If that happens, and the mood against the Ruto regime remains the same in the country come election day, then truly Ruto shall be Wantam.
Yes, two years is a long way away and in politics anything can happen, but it’s also true once a leader loses credibility, especially among a certain voter block, it is impossible to regain it.
