Seasoned leaders face off with the youth in build-up to 2027 elections

The group of young leaders led by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, now a thorn in the flesh of President William Ruto and his broad-based government arrangement, mirrors another team of youthful leaders that emerged in early 1991, known as the Young Turks.

Coincidentally, also in that setup was current Siaya Governor James Orengo, now an elder statesman who is working with this new line-up of politicians.

Apart from Orengo, other notable members of the group that rallied together to demand political and constitutional reforms were lawyer Paul Muite, Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o, Gitobu Imanyara and Joe Ager.

Also to join them later were Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, Agnes Ndetei, Martha Karua, the late George Kapten and Lawrence Sifuna, uncle to the current ODM Secretary-General (Edwin Sifuna) and lawyer Kiraitu Murungi.

Recently, Kiraitu posted a nostalgic photograph that captured his moment as a Young Turk.

“Our struggle for ensuring Kenya becomes a multiparty democracy had just paid off,” wrote Kiraitu on his Facebook page.

He was elated and went on to win the South Imenti parliamentary seat in December that year, which marked the beginning of his long journey in elective politics.

Kiraitu went on to add that back then, politics was issue-based and meaningful, unlike today, where our politics has become a morally barren space.

Also in that group were young lawyers, especially those who served in the Law Society of Kenya, university lecturers and student leaders, especially those from the Students Organisation of Nairobi University, like Mwandawiro Mghanga and Wafula Buke.

To make a mark, they decided to work with senior Opposition leaders like Jaramogi Odinga Oginga, Masinde Muliro and Martin Shikuku, Philip Gachoka, George Nthende and Ahmed Bahmahriz.

They mounted a lot of pressure on the government, including convening the Saba Saba rallies at the historic Kamukunji Grounds in Nairobi, to push for the reintroduction of multi-party politics.

Former Subukia MP Koigi Wamwere, who was also among the Young Turks in Parliament at the time, says they chose to make sacrifices that included being detained.

“Is the current crop of young leaders ready to sacrifice and support each other across the political divide? Only time will tell because money is flowing around and only the strongest among them will escape the temptations, says constitutional lawyer Mbitiru Wamwangi.

The Young Turks in the 1990s were fearless and aggressive MPs both inside and outside Parliament and were not afraid of teaming up with pro-reforms religious leaders and civil rights activists to fight for the common man.

The youthful MPs, most of them elected for the first time in 1979, went through a rough time getting detained or running away from the country into exile before returning in the 1980s. Like Sifuna and his group now, they were active debaters on the floor and in House committees, where they interrogated ministers and their assistants over queries raised in the Auditor-General’s reports.

It was from their relentless pressure that the Kanu regime agreed to return to multi-party democracy in December 1991 when President Daniel Arap Moi and the ruling Kanu party repealed Section 2A of the Constitution.

 Driven by domestic pressure with the support of the then US ambassador to Kenya, Smith Hempstone, and the international community, the 25 years of one-party rule came to an end, with the multi-party elections being held in December 1992.

Before that, Kanu monopolised all political power, with divergent voices getting either suspended or kicked out of the party through disciplinary proceedings at the party headquarters, then located at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.

Through their street demonstrations, they forced the repeal of Section 2A and in December 1991, the legal monopoly of the Kanu was abolished, allowing other political parties to operate.

Although the Young Turks gave the Opposition a lot of impetus, Kanu won the 1992 and 1997 elections due to a divided Opposition, but the 2002 election marked a turning point with the victory of the National Rainbow Coalition led by Mwai Kibaki, after the Opposition united, ending 39 years of Kanu rule.

That group of politicians is still credited today with re-engineering the country’s political landscape and also creating the momentum that led to the enactment of the current Constitution in 2010.