Gen Z, I hope you are doing well. Let us be honest. You are not doing well. You are weighed down by unemployment despite your education. You cannot access jobs despite your qualifications and expertise, simply because there is no one to hold your hand, nor do you have a man in high places. This leaves you unmotivated, hating yourself, questioning your very existence in this country, and eroding your sense of patriotism thick and fast.
You are overwhelmed by the oppressive tax policies that are milking the peanuts dry that casual labor puts in your pockets.
It is understandable to be raging at this moment. It is perfectly okay to speak out because there comes a time when silence is treason, and this is almost that time. You have every right to exercise your constitutional right under Article 37. Yes, perfect. You are an enlightened species, unlike your parents. You have no tribe except the tribe of fairness; you have no tribe except the tribe of accountability.
You take pride in being in existence in this era of information, where a smartphone, a computer, and the internet are enough to put the ruling class on its toes, sweating despite its shield of corruption.
A pen is mightier than a sword, undoubtedly, but Gen Z, you are singing poetry to a person wielding a gun, a trigger-hungry, angry man who thrives on intimidation and bullying. A man who cannot understand any language except violence and division. That is not a good bet. All odds are against you on the battlefield. The playground is not even, so the war has to be taken elsewhere.
You are a cold, brutal, heartless, and hypocritical person whose mouth drips with honey but whose hands are bloody. Clearly, the strategy needs to change. This year alone, 16 of you have been killed and more than 300 injured. In addition to those who lost their lives, some even torched the August house in the last year, just for the same cause. Let not their deaths be in vain.
Make the martyrs proud by achieving their goals and making the country a better place. It is the only way to ensure they live even after their brutal deaths at the hands of senseless clowns who possess a false sense of immortality.
Gen Z, it is crystal clear what you do not want. You are tired of taxation without representation, sick of legislation without consultation, and tired of the ruling class’s blind eye to the noble task of oversight. I understand your bitterness at having to borrow from mobile lending apps to get a meal while your leaders flaunt billions in designer watches and suits. To add salt to injury, they give you the “Utado?” attitude and too much bravado and braggadocio at funerals and “empowerment” programs.
I know how agonizing it is to hear that E-Citizen costs 115 million shillings per month, yet you applied for a certificate of good conduct 5 months ago and it still has not been issued. Yes, I know the absurdity and irony of this. I know you need to prove you are not a criminal. You have to pay to prove you are not corrupt on that god-forsaken EACC clearance form. You need to clear a HELB loan without a job. To apply for a job, you have to get CRB clearance before you get a job. I understand the agony and frustration inflicted by such bureaucracy. Weep not, child; better days are coming, of course, being shaped by you. I have a conviction that there will come a time when you will walk into a government office, be attended to without having to ask for a bribe, or be frustrated by officials just trying to extort you.
The system is broken, pushing you toward scams online, petty theft on the streets, and robbery by night. Even as you think all is lost, hope remains. You cannot access health services because you have not paid for SHA, yet it cannot account for the 24 billion lost to fraud. I know it is easier to arrest someone who has photoshopped the president in a coffin, but it isn't easy to track those who stole 24 billion, money meant for hospitals. I understand how infuriating and disenchanting this can be.
You are raging and ranting, WANTAM, ready to hit the streets and even torch businesses, but please, reserve this rage for the ballot. Have clarity of mind.
You are dealing with a senseless body that would rather shoot you and ruin your life than listen to you. It is even harder because your peers have been paid to enable the propaganda that systems work, even though the chickens in the village know that nothing is right on the right and nothing is left on the left.
At the moment, you are living, no, not really living. You are surviving in fear of abduction, torture, and even murder. When you demand a seat at the table to ask for your share of the cake, you suddenly appear on autopsy tables, pieces of you stitched together. It is tough to reason with these people through the bullet, leaving you to opt for the ballot.
We all suffer under the same oppressor. We are all in the boat of social degradation, political oppression, and economic exploitation. Even those who think they have a life jacket and sing hallelujah to the same oppressors will one day see the light. Do not worry about them. Their heads are in the sand because they have been thrown crumbs from the high table, so they think they belong to it. One day, they will wake up to the brutal smell of reality's coffee, and you, Gen Z, will have the satisfaction of telling them, “We told you so.” It is a matter of when.
The storms of injustice and intimidation are wrecking the ship of change, but that is not the end.
The flight to justice and good governance is constantly buffeted by the turbulence of corruption and oppression, but worry not, we shall soon dock at the port of accountability and good governance in the promised land.
Do not burn people’s businesses; do not insult them. They are evil at heart, and your insults will not move them. Do not mock their incompetence; they have no conscience, and it will not move them an inch. They are gluttons with no remorse or guilt for anything other than their insatiable appetite for public resources. Be of good faith and save your rage for the ballot.