Irony of discord among Gen Z: Will the youth hold together longer?

Youths during Gen Z protests in Nairobi. [File, Standard] Was it just a matter of time before the inevitable happened in the Gen-Z movement that had threatened to overturn the political order in the country a few months ago? The ongoing bickering, infighting and name calling among some of the emerging leaders of the set up that described itself as 'leaderless' has created some concern among Kenyans who had supported the noble cause of good governance that they have been demanding for. Forces targeted by the Gen Z are gleefully excited about the implosion in the movement, as its leaders fight and engage in heated debate on social media and the general political space. Fallouts and power struggle is common in Kenya's politics, especially since the return of multi-party politics in 1992, when many political formations either split or just died because of the leadership battles. Such divisions emerge out of unbridled thirst for power and the trappings that come from it, making popular political adventures like the Gen Z movement's agenda open to infiltration and sabotage. Political pundits think the Gen Z movement leaders has been infiltrated by saboteurs, resulting in infighting, baying for each other's blood and all manner of accusations against each other from its budding leaders. Former Nairobi Town Clerk and politician Philip Kisia describes the verbal wars among the Gen Z and millennials as unfortunate, because they had shown a lot of promise to the country by starting on a very solid footing as an alternative leadership. Having said they were tribeless, non-partisan and leaderless, many thought it could have been difficult for the group to be penetrated by destructive forces. "These young people were going to change the trajectory of the country because they have the numbers. Their thinking, philosophy and ideology was taking the country through a complete 360 degrees turn," says Kisia. Unfortunately, because tribal politics is so much entrenched and they also come from different tribes, there is still a heavy influence from the older generation especially after Raila Odinga entered into an agreement with President William Ruto for ODM members to join the government. Another school of thought is that sharp divisions have hit the young people because some are struggling to shake of old habits and are therefore easy to manipulate to create power struggles, frustrating those pushing for competence, integrity and the fight against corruption in government. Kisia thinks people in power are becoming very uncomfortable and that is why they will use every trick, including infiltrating the Gen Z with huge amounts of money to buy their support and create disharmony among them. But the young people being used to create discord appear to have forgotten that the old guard are only interested in promoting personal and selfish gain, and not the values and principles that some of their friends lost their lives for in the recent Gen Z protests. "Don't forget that Gen Z are also human beings. They see people who are influencing them living in opulence and get torn between integrity, uprightness and wanting to live a life that is superfluous, yet those in political class cannot show the source of their wealth," says Kisia. One young activist that has prominently featured both in social and mainstream media is Kasmuel McOure. He, among others like Kebaso Morara have been accused by some of the young activists of advancing personal aggrandisement to raise their profile. He disagrees: "Kenyans have shown that they are willing to crowd fund. If we are truly leaderless, why shouldn't somebody else step up. There are hundreds of young people who have emerged in this revolution and they should be given a chance." He also asserts that they are preparing for the ballot revolution that the political class is pushing them into. Lawyer Miguna Miguna who has supported the Gen Z through his social media posts since May, has been very critical of Morara's style of engagement with Kenyans, creating some frenzied discussion on social media platforms. He frowned at calls from one post asking him to endorse Morara's work, cautioning that he will only endorse integrity, truth and revolutionary commitment for social justice. "You are focused on people and totems you worship. I don't worship anyone," he added. Miguna said he stopped supporting Morara when he allegedly veered off the rail to focus on schemes that are inimical to the Gen Z and millennials movement, to which Morara responded politely, telling Miguna that everyone should be allowed to do what he or she can do best. "We don't have to do the same thing. We just need to have the same goals," said Morara, as many others either supported or attacked him in the lively engagement that has continued since early last week. That however did not stop Miguna from going more ballistic telling his critics that he is not on the X platform to please anyone, but he is there to expose conmen, con-women, organised criminals and plunderers both emerging and entrenched. "It is painful to realise that Morara cornered us but let us count our loses and march on without him," added Miguna. Morara's response is that people see things differently and his strategy is simple, because in whatever they do they should all remember that 70 percent of the country is in the villages. "My heart is clean. My conscience is clear. We must climb down our X horse and do a lot of ground work in the villages. If we can get people in villages to support us, then we will succeed," said Morara. He describes his style is political, and that Miguna's is activism, adding that others can apply the provocative music approach or creative educative content and that is why each person should do what they can do well to achieve the same goal. Team Truth Watchdog cautioned the youth leaders against fighting each other, singling out Morara and McOure and advising them to work together to achieve a common goal that will bear fruits. He also warned politicians and the old guard are using some of them to cause divisions. It appears some people are not happy that Kenyans are fund raising for Morara to move around the country and expose fake projects that are allegedly funded by the government. They were also riled by his proposal that the youth form their own political party so that they can prepare to take power in the 2027 presidential election. Commenting on the call for a political party, a young woman calling herself Udaku girl, claimed she has noticed that Morara's allies online are attacking people who have different ideas. "Why ask us to suggest a name of the party and the colours, yet he has already decided and was already wearing a green tie, a colour which he had proposed," said Udaku. Siding with her, Otieno Otieno added that someone lied to Morara that a political party is more important than exposing the government, its corrupt cartels and lies. He regretted, that now that Morara has gone into the mainstream media space and speaking a different language, and the sad fact is that he is no longer with the rest of them. Speaking as admirer of the Gen Z, Kisia advises that the way forward is for them not get their eyes off the ball and look at the bigger picture, which is about securing their own future and that of their children. "There are so many of them who can lead. Immediately they realise that someone among them has been compromised, then they must call out such people or drop them like a hot potato," advised Kisia. As pointed out earlier, it is not only the Gen Z who are feeling the effects of politics of betrayal and back stabbing because that has been the practice in Kenyan politics for a longtime, In the 1990s, power struggles, egos and personal ambitions rocked the Forum for Restoration of Democracy (FORD), a movement that could have over leadership of the country had its leaders Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Kenneth Matiba remained united.

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