Situation 'on the ground' is not as rosy as government paints it

Fellow young people, I send you this missive hoping it finds you well. That we are living in precarious times cannot be gainsaid. The unemployment rate has skyrocketed and with it the provision of socio-economic rights is envisaged in article 43 of the Constitution. The men in power, however, have already declared that they are doing splendid work. Last week, while speaking to some elected leaders from Mt Kenya East, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki said they have fixed the macroeconomics.

Can’t fix the macro and the micro concurrently? I pose this question because these folks are not new in government. If we were to believe their story that they were excluded from running government during the second term of the Jubilee days, at least they knew the inner workings of government. Today, as they are declaring easy victories, they still arrest people who tell them that some of the pet projects they have hired bloggers to insult us about are not working.

To sit back and hope that our government is benevolent and responsive enough is an ideal scenario we would all wish for. But prudence has taught us that despite flowery language, we must only judge our government by the consequences of their actions.

Due to knowledge of the inner workings of government, we should not hear anybody telling us about how they have fixed macroeconomics.

The genesis of our misery is unbridled corruption predicated on public spending mismanagement. If this government was keen to avail immediate help to us, the young people, it would have invested sufficient time and resources in doing a forensic audit on all the loans taken from June 2013. That they have never broached that conversation is a testament that they are only keen on lip service and vain poetic rhetoric but nothing that goes to the root of the new economic direction for this country.

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When we repudiated the Kenya Kwanza on June 25 last year, they set something similar to the one they criticised where the government is in opposition and the opposition is in government. The primary instinct was to call out their double speak but we chose restraint for life is not entirely about morality tales with simple plots.

Instead of getting to work, we are treated to daily reminders of first this and first that. You would think that one of the demands of the June 2024 protest was a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) compliant government.

If DEI were that important to them why didn’t they prioritise it when they first came to town? For two years, we lived with an arrogant Cabinet that was nothing more than an ethnic duopoly. The leadership positions in Parliament were placed in the hands of excited men who derived much joy in insulting other leaders. Remember when the Majority Leader called Raila Odinga an economic terrorist and an urban bandit?

Instead of using the immense powers of the monopoly of violence available to the State to preside over law and order, we are now caught in a scenario where the government conducts itself like a sponsor of terror. I listened to an MP tell Spice FM, our sister radio station, that the police have done so much work to thwart terrorist threats. The question is, of what value is it to deter terrorists yet we are still being brutalised from within?

Fellow young people, a complex plan is afoot to scare us all into silence. That plan will take many forms including sponsoring smear campaigns on social media against notable members of this revolution we helped set in motion now christened Gen Z revolution. As your comrade in the struggle, I command you to reject any overtures calculated to co-opt you into the gravy train. We must march forward, together.

Mr Kidi is the convener Inter Parties Youth Forum. [email protected]