How Ruto should engage with the young and restless

The fable of the wind and the sun teaches us something important about how the Kwanza Kenya government should deal with young people, if not all Kenyans. As the fable goes, the two entities challenged each other on which is stronger and found a perfect testing ground on a man wearing his jacket.

The wind, confident in its brute force, tried to force a man out of his jacket by blowing and howling very hard. But the harder it blew, the tighter the man held onto his jacket—quite expectedly. 

On the other hand, the sun gently warmed the man, slowly upping its temperature, and he eventually took off his jacket without any trouble or struggle. The two scenarios demonstrate clearly that sometimes force doesn’t work and can breed resistance. However, a soft approach through kindness and understanding is a better way to get people to do what you want.

President Ruto knows this too well; only he seems to have gotten impatient. Immediately after the storming of Parliament in June last year, Ruto put both strategies to test, and I can bet he got to the same conclusion. In his first statement on the night on the now indelible part of our history, Ruto went hard against perceived detractors but there was serious backlash. 

He was forced to come back a little more softly the next day, and this time he took a number of actions in response to the concerns of the young Kenyans. President Ruto started engagements with the young people and even held a well-attended Twitter space. This was quickly followed by media interviews in the mainstream and digital media and later a series of town hall engagements. This was the way to go.

But then things changed. President Ruto chose political consolidation and went the broad based government way. While that may have stabilised his government politically, it rolled back his progress with the youth to whom he had made lots of promises.

The government needs to change how it deals with young people. It needs to listen carefully to what they are saying and show it really wants to help them. Ignoring or punishing people who disagree with the government will only make things worse.

Young people today have seen how hard their parents have struggled with things like not having enough money, not finding jobs, and unfairness. They want things to be better, and they are frustrated when they don’t see any change. If the government keeps fighting with young people, it will only make them angrier.

Instead, the government should try to talk and work together with them. It should create spaces where everyone can share their ideas honestly. By listening to young people and making changes that help them, the government can build a better future for everyone. The wind used force and the sun used warmth. The sun won the challenge but even if the wind had won, that change would not have lasted. The man would have struggled to get his jacket back because the harder the wind blew, the more he needed it.