THE FUTURE IN OUR HANDS: Why Kenya needs youthful leaders
2022 is around the corner and it’s sad to say that the tide points to yet another tribal affair in our local politics. The talk around town is who Kenyatta (Kikuyus) would back to be the next president. Since the handshake, confusion is the order of the day and it seems Kenyatta is not in a hurry to calm anyone's nerves. Ruto seems to be in a quest to amass funds since he may be going against the dynasty money man solo while on the other hand, Raila is in a government which he vehemently opposed and is as quiet as a church mouse. Anyway, we seem to be stuck in the same conundrum of tribal politics that we all shun in public but practice behind closed doors.
With the majority of our population being youthful, we should take the future into our hands and determine a different path for our country before we become tribally polarized. Irrespective of your political allegiance, you will be forced to choose between a rock and a hard place when casting your vote. Worse yet, you will choose not to cast your vote knowing that the status quo would remain the same — power to the rich and misery to the poor.
The time is now and don’t say it is too soon. If our political leadership was a malady ailing you, would you wait for another five years to get a cure or would you resolve the issue soonest possible? Then the matter of our political future should be of our uttermost concern because our lives literally depends on it. Since we have determined that the current crop of leaders do not have our desires at heart, then what alternative do we have?
Voting in youthful leaders is the way forward. The future belongs to us and it is time we should have a say on what we want in that future. I will put forth three arguments as to why this is the best way forward. First is we should stop voting in old dogs who can’t learn new tricks. Recently, social media was ablaze following the appointment of Moody Awori as a member of the Sports, Art and Social Development Fund board by Uhuru Kenyatta. This was blatant disrespect to our youthful nation where unemployment is over 50%.
Second, many of the youthful leaders have not been corrupted by the old regime gimmicks. They may shed new light in our political arena which may bring sanity amidst all this tribal madness. Whenever our old folks go to the ballot, they try to resolve two issues with one vote. One, is the historical injustices that is the major tribal divider in our country and two, they want a better future for their children. Whereas the injustices cannot go unmentioned, we cannot carry this baggage into the future.
Thirdly, voting in youthful leaders would create a ripple effect. For example, due to devolution, the mandate of formulating economic policies has been devolved to the county governments. The governor has the power to appoint an economic committee with a chairman. For the case of my county, the governor appointed his peer who last I checked was a teacher. With many youths holding economic degrees, it is sad to see such cases which are rampant all over the country.
Since over 40% of the Kenyan population is aged between 18 -40 years old, I will assume that there is a 40% probability that whoever is reading this article is youthful. Change starts with you and it is time we consider an alternative to tribal politics. So before 2022 beckons, make a choice to vote for change, make a choice to vote for youthful leaders.
