How young Kenyans can give 2027 elections meaning

Look, young people. Both experience and the insights of leading scholars invite us to find meaning in seemingly meaningless situations. For instance, our Kenyan general elections are considerably meaningless if you consider them against the constitutional standards and qualities that should define them.

Nevertheless, we have to find meaning in the upcoming 2027 General Election. I argue that you, young Kenyans, can give the 2027 elections meaning by activating your willpower for transformative change.

The way the 2024 protests were handled destroyed the willpower of many young people to find meaning in expressing themselves on civic matters. Let us be honest, many parents also encouraged their children never to go out for demonstrations or protests. Out of this abundance of caution, the direct involvement of young people in next year’s general election makes a lot of sense, as it is less risky compared to demonstrations and protests.

The June 2024 protests showed a side of young people some of us were blind to: Intelligent, civically conscious, capable of organising, interrogating public decisions and imagining a more dignified life. Gen Z and other supportive young Kenyans demonstrated judgment and agency in public affairs of their country.

Again, let us be honest with ourselves. Some young people, probably a majority, were so terrified by how the protests were dismounted that it is highly plausible they may not, after all, turn out to vote. They need a very strong reason to make them want to cast their votes come next year. This, in part, explains why some are coming out to support a younger presidential candidate in the name of Edwin Sifuna.

Some still do not want to register as voters. The strongest objection towards Niko Kadi (I have registered as a voter) is also understandable: Why vote if the election could be rigged anyway? I take that concern seriously. Young people follow politics like anyone else. They have seen presidential election outcomes contested for about two decades now. What is in place to assure them that come next year the presidential election results will not be rigged? This line of thinking may easily lead to fatalism.

Look, friends. Abstention may express rejection; it does not, by itself, translate that rejection into the election of alternative leadership. While we must push IEBC to deliver a fair, credible and transparent election, we have a duty to right past wrongs by actually registering as voters and indeed voting.

I am proposing that, as young people, you exercise your own judgment more deliberately. The ballot is not a certificate of confidence in the political class. It is the constitutional means through which citizens renew or withdraw an electoral mandate. Protest makes a demand visible; voting gives it a formal electoral expression.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), the German philosopher and cultural critic, became a professor at Basel at 24. Ill health forced his retirement in 1879, but he subsequently produced major works, including ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ and ‘Beyond Good and Evil’. His productive career ended with a mental collapse at 44; he died at 55. His struggles became occasions for deep reflections that have shaped the way societies interpret and apply civic duty.

Nihilism as presented by Nietzsche is the conviction that nothing has meaning.  And there are many young people out there who don’t believe there is any meaning in our electoral process since, in their considered understanding, the elections are predetermined anyway. Precisely on this, Nietzsche talks about will to power. You, young people, have the agency, the willpower, to make a statement in the next general election.

Likewise, I draw from Nietzsche’s ‘Übermensch’ (superhuman), a challenge to surpass inherited habits. Our general elections are characterised by nepotism, tribalism, misguided religious affiliation in some cases, and a hegemony that scorns the willpower of young people. An authentic political life would mean choosing according to convictions we have examined ourselves as young people.

Existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre argues that we have to define ourselves through choices and actions, not through the choices and actions of others. You, young people, have civic choices to make next year.

Dr Mokua is Director Loyola Centre for Media and Communications