Politics
Kenyan Youth Engagement in Politics: Challenges, Strategies & Prospects
Kenyan youth express disengagement from formal politics due to lack of relevance. They prefer unconventional methods like protests and social media to voice discontent. Barriers within formal politics hinder youth participation.
6 min read
Originally published by barbadostoday.bb (opens in new tab)
A few weeks ago, young people in Kenya reaffirmed what global politics has reported, much to people’s disbelief. That young people continue to be disengaged and underrepresented from formal institutional politics, which include voting in elections, supporting and contesting in political parties, among other democratic engagement.
The Late Dr Henry Charles, one of the Caribbean’s foremost minds on youth development was therefore correct when he noted that the underlying reason for this rests with the failure of governments and political parties to address issues of relevance to young people and there is a sense that the political process has not delivered the goods and ambivalent to reform.
However, young people are more inclined to the conventional methods of politics, where they engage in youth led protests, demonstrations, social media petitions, single issue communications in order to register their discontent with governments.
The unfortunate reality is that there are many who view politics only through the formal institutional lens. Even within the formal exists so many barriers like age, financial dependence, lack of party support, and cultural barriers where politics is seen for older and ‘mature’ individuals. And, as opposed to rectifying it, adultism has creeped in, where attempts are made to prescribe the methods of engagement, while being tokenistic in formal politics. This is being done as opposed to meeting young people’s needs from the conventional methods of engagement.
The probing question is what occurs beyond the Kenyan protests, and the government has reversed their policy? What occurs to the necessary wider youth-led transformation? Do the results from the protests render the movement periodic, or do the main characters believe they can effect greater change from within the formal structure, and possibly become part of the problem?
It is no secret that young people across the world, have engaged in climate change marches, Occupy Wall Street, Arab Springs, Black Lives Matter and other global movements which all indicate that they are inclined to respond to the formal structure through radical protests and petitions. Young people are therefore not just sitting idly by!
In this case, young people in Kenya rejected the neo-liberal and IMF poison pill causing the 2024 finance bill to be withdrawn. It attempted to remove the social subsidies which is customary to IMF austerity measures and propose additional tax on financial and forex transactions, an eco-levy tax on imports and digital products, motor vehicle tax, and tax on healthcare. These additional taxes would have been at the expense of ordinary Kenyans particularly women and youth, to pay off rich country lenders, which would cause more money to be spent on servicing debts than on critical public service.
