Young people's voice must be loud and clear in next election

The appointment and swearing in of the IEBC selection panel is a critical big step in the right direction. It buttresses the efforts to drive meaningful transformative change agenda through mainstream political processes. Building inclusive political institutions can happen more robustly only in an environment where there is no violence or threat of violence.  

It’s against this backdrop that we send command to all the young people across the country to polish up their resumes and submit them for consideration as members of the electoral body. The capacity of this country to attain its highest possible potential is domiciled in the pulsating ingenuity and imagination of its young people. For all the work we do daily with young people from political parties, civil society organizations and institutions of higher learning, I appreciate, that youth energy, like a water engineer tames a raging river, must be channeled skillfully. Left untapped and unchanneled, it can be seized by malevolent forces that can exploit it to the disadvantage of everyone.

All the right turns the country has made has large footprints of young people in it. The repeal of section 2A would have taken longer if the young Turks were unwilling to discard all the material comfort in pursuit of larger dreams. The historic transfer of power in 2002, while it was work so many actors coming together in the interest of the country, it had young people at the very centre.

The peaceful elections we had in 2022, took the foresight and the courage of the youth of Kenya. Unbeknownst to many, after the “The Resist Movement” of 2017 and the subsequent cessation of hostilities between the major principals in 2018, a few of us decided that future political fallout must, as a matter of primary necessity, find expression in peaceful engagements.  When the BBI debate was raging, we had disparate views both on the substance and the procedural aspect of that process. But young people from both camps, that is those who were in support and those opposed to the BBI process committed to always speak to one another without violence or threat of violence. As a consequence, we birthed the now defunct “The Notable National Youth Leaders Caucus”.

We then brainstormed on how to avert violence in 2022 elections. We resolved that we would liaise with the electoral body to channel the aspirations through it. As a consequence, a multi-sectoral liaison team was set up. Under the leadership of Joel Mwita Daniel from UCSPAK and Nerima Wako of Siasa Place as chair and vice chair respectively, we set up the IEBC-Youth Coordinating Committee in 2021. We traversed the country raising civic awareness and de-escalating ethnic tensions while reminding young people that differences are inevitable in any human interactions but resolving them must not take a violent dimension.

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Starting with Nyanza Region, we identified, trained then deployed trainer of trainers with at least each ward getting a representative. We then tasked them to replicate themselves in their locality and came up with online and physical monitoring and evaluation mechanism. In some instances, due to nuances on the ground, we would pose and devise ways of ensuring that we do not perpetuate the marginalisation trends that have been sustained in every political dispensation.

Courtesy of the Resource mobilization capabilities of Mwita, we had other partners joining hands with us to ensure that we lacked nothing. UNDP, European Union and IFES were just some of the partners.

Under the clarion call “Uchaguzi Bila Noma” young people underwrote a peaceful presidential election process. But the task ahead is daunting. Our partners in that process, the National Police Service, have in the recent past been accused of overzealousness, especially after Gen-Z protests.

Young people must now step forward and continue to become God’s instrument of peace. Especially now when despondency wafts through the air like a cheap cologne.

Mwaga is the convener, Inter Parties Youth Forum

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