The Purposeful is Political: Gen Zs and Politics

Originally published at ELF-Africa (https://elfafrica.org/) on July 20th, 2022.

The pursuit of youth participation in governance, politics and other developmental processes is an increasing global concern. The youth in Kenya have been marginalized and excluded from political leadership since independence; this has placed the youth at the periphery with regard to all decision-making spaces in Kenya. Promulgation of the 2010 constitution entrenched several solid wins for the youth sector. Various articles recognize youth as a historically disadvantaged group and specifically put the responsibility on duty bearers to take measures to enhance equitable access to socio-economic and political opportunities. Other downstream pieces of legislation which were enacted to give effect to the constitution also lay out measures that are aimed at limiting the potential of disenfranchising youths in different spheres of life.

However, this narrative slightly changed in 2013 when Kenyans elected the highest number of youth in leadership in the history of Kenya both at the national and county level, i.e. 1 governor, 5 Senators, 23 Members of Parliament (MP), and 303 Members of County Assembly (MCAs). Notably, 2022 was not a smooth journey for those who expressed interest to vie especially through political parties whose primaries were marred by some irregularities.

Based on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission audited register, there are 22,120,458 Kenyans eligible to participate in the forthcoming August 9 elections, out of which 8,812,790 are youth, representing 39.8 per cent of the registered voters. This is a decline of 5.3 per cent compared to 2017. The majority of the new voters are Gen Z (1996 – 2010), also known as iGeneration (iGen). Whereas most people are quick to call Gen Z the “lazy” or “self-obsessed” generation, that same mentality plagues people’s thought process of assuming that the Gen Z generation is disinterested in politics.

According to the World Values Survey, political activity has stayed the same since 1981, and the same study showed that Gen Z is even more politically active than most generations when the data on the current generation’s involvement in political protests/rallies are included. Looking at this research, it’s clear that we have been asking the wrong question for too long. We’ve been asking ourselves why Gen Z are so disinterested in politics, but the reality is that the question we should be asking is why Gen Z are so disinterested in voting. For far too long, Gen Zs have been told that they were being inconsiderate for not voting, yet the real issue is that they feel the candidates are not speaking to their needs.

The assumption that Gen Zs do not care about matters to do with political participation, civic engagement or public affairs has been attributed to their ‘short attention span’.? However, it is important to note that Generation Z act when they are outraged, when they feel personally affected or when they feel robbed of their future and their freedoms by the adult generation that is currently in power. In Kenya, for example, we are seeing more and more young people calling public attention to the issues they care about, insisting that their demands are met. In our increasingly digitized, secular, and ideologically polarized era, Gen Z has overwhelmingly turned to political activism in their search for meaning.

In Kenya, we continue to see an evident lack of diversity when it comes to the voices represented across our political systems, a lack of trust in institutions, and very little political momentum or political will to significantly change the way things have historically been done. Whereas Gen Zs have seen the same short-term decisions made by the same types of political leaders, challenging the status quo to deliver the kind of solutions that will bring transformational change and accelerate progress, Gen Zs need to ensure that political institutions truly represent them. I do not doubt that Gen Zs have the energy, knowledge and creativity needed to tackle some of the world’s most pressing problems.

Get ready, my dear reader, because Gen Z is about to shake things up in politics! These young people are going to be powerful voices in the coming years.

To this end, the Governance & Civic Engagement program at ELF-Africa seeks to amplify the voice and equip young women and men (including Gen Z) with the knowledge, skills, values and networks required to effectively, meaningfully and confidently participate in, and influence governance and policy processes across the multiple spaces they occupy, be it virtual or offline platforms, national or county levels, public or private sector.

As a Kenyan youth, I am optimistic that the youth of Kenya will one day claim its meaningful role as equal partners in the development process. Tunahusika kwa sababu Tunaweza!

By Edward Kip Kalya

At the time of writing, the author served as Program Officer for Governance & Civic Engagement at Emerging Leaders Foundation – Africa (ELF-Africa)

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