In the hands of disgruntled youth across Africa, the smartphone is a powerful weapon. In the recent past, youth in several African countries have used social media to hold their governments accountable, raise awareness about injustice and corruption, satirized the political elite, and resisted authoritarianism. Kenya recently witnessed unprecedented nationwide protests in defiance of government proposed tax increases and also elicited police brutality. These protests were led by “Generation Z” popularly referred to as “Gen Z”, who used social media to mobilise against the Kenya Finance Bill 2024 and other excesses under the hashtag #EndFinanceBill. Gen Z has since metamorphosed into Gen Zote (All generations) to refer to a mindset, that is, Kenyans committed to good governance, the rule of law, inclusivity, and moral rectitude in public life regardless of age.
Kenya’s Constitution affirms the inalienable right to protest under Article 37 which states that, “Every person has the right, peaceably and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket, and to present petitions to public authorities.” The Bill of Rights, further, provides for fundamental freedoms such as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of conscience without which there cannot be a viable democracy. Internationally, the right to protest is also affirmed through binding conventions and norms to which Kenya is a signatory. The African Charter on Human People’s Rights (Banjul Charter) and the African Youth Charter, specifically Article (11)(2), call for the guarantee of youth participation, the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, particularly Article 31(1) and (2), promotes the participation of social groups with special needs, including the youth and people with disabilities, in governance processes.
The police often overzealously break up protests by use of excessive force no matter how innocuous the protesters’ concerns are. President William Ruto, elected in 2022, pledged to end the culture of police brutality but the Kenyan police persist in excessive use of force against citizens under his tenure. President Ruto, during a press conference following the storming of parliament, defended police when accused of atrocities, and labelled the protesting youth as criminals liable for treason. He contested that the police shot protesters extrajudicially, maimed others and disappeared more through abductions yet balaclava clad armed individuals have continued to abduct youth and other Kenyans in broad daylight. Further, President Ruto ordered soldiers onto the streets of Nairobi and across the country ostensibly to restore law and order.
Successive Kenyan governments have often criminalised the right to protest, and the police consistently target protesters with live ammunition. Kenya’s political history is characterised by protests dating to the one-party autocracy and before. Since protests are constitutionally provided for, they are necessary once the government recalcitrantly refuses to heed popular demands and turns rogue. Protests are a form of direct democracy through which the people exercise sovereignty by bypassing ineffectual and corrupt representatives. These Gen Z led protests were distinct. Before, protests in Kenya were narrow and served elite interests. A year after the 2022 elections, the opposition held protests over the high cost of living and disputed elections. On this and previous occasions, however, the protests fizzled out after these opposition politicians were co opted in the government. President Ruto co opted allies of his erstwhile presidential opponent into the government following the Gen Z led protests. Cynical elite pacts are a constant in Kenya’s contested politics.
[T]hese protests were inspired by crosscutting concerns about the sorry state of the Kenyan economy, unresponsive politics, decrepit and classist education and health sectors, and extrajudicial and enforced disappearances.
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The Finance Bill 2024 was meant to anchor the government revenue collection and reduce external borrowing that has sank Kenya into massive debt. However, through social media and other channels, Kenyans of all walks of life expressed outrage at the punitive taxes proposed under the Bill yet there is no accountability for endemic corruption, and wastage by the government. Furthermore, Kenyans decry high taxes amid dwindling income, joblessness, and ostentatious living by the political elite. Despite spirited opposition, the Bill went through the first and second reading and was eventually passed while protests were raging outside parliament. So enraged were the protesters that they stormed the parliament buildings and forced the MPs to scamper for safety. Upon realising that he was fast losing the political initiative, President Ruto declined to assent to the bill. He initially sent it back to parliament for amendments and finally threw it out altogether. Legal opinions differ as to whether Ruto has the power to reject a bill by refusing to assent to it or whether bills are self-executing and eventually become law regardless. Be it as it may, the issue here is not legal but political and so fixation on legalese is unhelpful.
Had it become law, the Bill would have imposed a raft of taxes on Kenyans touching on trade, personal income, agriculture, health, investment, housing, and virtually every other sector conceivable. Contentious as the Bill was, the protests, akin to a mass uprising, were not solely about the Kenya Finance Bill 2024 which was basically the proximate cause. The protests were a repudiation of Ruto who almost two years ago ascended to power on a platform of change. While campaigning, he had pledged to centre the populace who, for decades, have been marginalised by successive regimes. However, once in power, he reneged on the popular promises under his manifesto and retained the exclusionary, oppressive, and divisive state that has virtually retained all the colonial attributes. These protests were a denunciation of a self-reproducing political elite detached from the needs and aspirations of Kenyans.
Again, the recently held protests in Kenya were different compared to protests held before. First, they were organic in the sense that they were not instigated by sectarian interests. Unlike in the past when protests were organised by the political elite, sections of civil society, and trade unions, these protests were inspired by crosscutting concerns about the sorry state of the Kenyan economy, unresponsive politics, decrepit and classist education and health sectors, and extrajudicial and summary killings and enforced disappearances. The protesters were united across ethnic, regional, gender, religious and other fault lines that have in the past impeded Kenyans from collectively holding the government to account over state excesses.
The Kenyan example shows that African youth are not disinterested in political activity and are determined to effect fundamental political changes against great odds.
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President Ruto dismissed the cabinet in the wake of the protests but subsequently reappointed some of the cabinet secretaries back and absorbed others in the bureaucracy. He also stated that some aspects of the rejected Finance Bill could be brought back into parliament for enactment into laws. The protesters have further been angered by these decisions and accused Ruto of recalcitrance. From the beginning, some of Ruto’s appointments were unconstitutional in that they were not provided for under the law and raised the wage bill. Therefore, the protests were also against a top-heavy government and overrepresentation brought about by the two-tier government and independent commissions, numerous state-owned entities which duplicate efforts and serve no more than sinecures for relatives, cronies and allies of the political elite. The Gen Z were also protesting against ethnicisation of the state which has institutionalised mediocrity, and hindered accountability. Ruto promised to demobilise political tribalism but he stands indicted for presiding over a government made up predominantly of people from two ethnic groups – his and Uhuru Kenyatta’s, his predecessor.
A common thread amongst youth led protests on the African continent is the demand for good governance. Ideally democracy enables the rule of law, accountability, human rights, and constitutionalism. However, across Africa, democracy exists more in form, by way of elections and flawed ones at that, rather than substance. Data from AfroBarometer Round Ten surveys indicate that approximately 60% of young Africans are dissatisfied with their democracies. The irony is that despite this discontent, they are significantly less likely than older people to participate in change-making activities such as voting or engaging in activism. The Kenyan protests, however, show that African youth are not disinterested in political activity and are keen to effect fundamental political changes against great odds including police brutality.
The Kenyan government needs to respond to the grievances precipitated by the recent protests because it cannot count on brute force by the police to quell simmering discontent and mass uprisings owing to a depressed economy. These mass uprisings could easily spiral out of hand and result in the collapse of the government as has happened in Sudan, Libya and Tunisia. As such, going into the future, Kenya and other African governments will witness more discontent among restive young populations unless governments function optimally to address political exclusion, poverty, inequalities, and unemployment. Young people demand dividends of democracy in the form of accountability, the rule of law, jobs and access to quality education and healthcare for all and prospects for the future. Kenya’s Gen Z has resolved to overhaul the exclusive and extractive colonial state and Kenya’s political culture attuned to impunity, corruption and divisive ethnic politics. In its stead, they are fostering a pan-Kenyan identity that transcends primordial forms of political mobilisation and centre crosscutting mass mobilisation for a viable democracy and society. The political elite, however, is against this reimagination of the Kenyan state and society thus excessive force by the police and other security apparatus against protesters. It is incumbent upon the Kenyan youth to realise a responsive, inclusive, and transformed polity anchored in the rule of law.
Dr Westen K. Shilaho is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Lennon Monyae is a Research Associate & Youth Liaison Officer at African Peer Review Mechanism Continental Secretariat.
The views expressed in the article are those of the authors not their respective institutions nor those of ACCORD.
