By AYODELE OKUNFOLAMI

A concert-like memorial was held earlier in the week for the 39 individuals who lost their lives in Kenya’s anti-government demonstrations which is entering the second month. Like #EndSARS that had to do with police brutality, #RejectFinanceBill2024 began as a social media campaign to galvanize and mobilize Kenyans to reject a proposed bill sent to the Parliament by President William Ruto. Amongst other changes, the contentious legislation proposes introduction of levies that would increase prices of sanitary towels, diapers, electronic devices and bread. It also included raising taxes for data as neighbouring Uganda had done. Similar to #EndSARS, #RejectFinanceBill2024 transited from cyber space onto the streets. Kenyan youths staged peaceful protests demanding that the bill be dropped.

The Kenyan incident is mirrored across Africa. Actually, the Kenyan story is the Nigerian story and leaders of both countries should be proud that they have assertive youths who civilly express themselves. It is because the youths believe the democratic process that self-corrects itself that they go to the streets to protest. I had argued in an article last year that Anglophone Africa would not join the coup d’état wave Francophone Africa adopted because their democracies have proven to be more mature. And it is that maturity that is exhibited by these youths.

Protests are common features of democracies. I will still talk about his visit to America, but Ruto would have noticed protesters around the White House when he visited in May. He would have watched American campuses protesting about the Israel-Palestine war. It is the same around major capitals. My point is that protests about any issue are and should be regular features in democracies. Africa inclusive.

Unfortunately, our leaders detest protests. They first pretend as if they never saw it fermenting on line, then wave the street protests aside hoping it would fade away. Protests persists, they then profile the protesters as sponsored by the opposition as a way of delegitimizing the rallies. For Kenya, the protesters were mischaracterized as spoilt children carrying expensive phones and driving e-hailing cars. That is a wrong way to view this generation.

They are not called Gen Zs for nothing. They are the digital natives who live their lives on the Internet and social media. So owning a good smart phone is most important to them. And it is silly to think it is only comedy skits they watch there. They run online courses, trade crypto, provide content and also get news they would have gotten from conventional sources. Although they have megabytes of data, they live their lives in bits. Their attention spans are too short to stay in an employment for 35 years or listen to a news bulletin for one hour. They surf from one TikTok viral video to another, as they change jobs and careers for the highest bidder. They job differently, they news differently. Don’t think they are ignorant or uninterested in the political and economic situation of their nation just because they are discussing celebrity weddings. They are equally aware that if Kenyan civil servants work all their lives they would be unable to afford Ruto’s wrist watch and that a Nigerian minister wears Versace Denim worth over $2,000. They are upwardly mobile doing the next professional course or putting their certificates aside to engage in one art or craft, including Uber driving. They are not lazy and should not be seen as such. 

May I appeal to the older generation to give these kids a break. Some Kenyan mothers were wondering why their daughters couldn’t be washing nappies as they did in their days instead of protesting against price hikes for diapers. Nigerian youths too face such opposition from non-political voices who would rather not have student union activism on campuses so that they can graduate in due time. We can’t bottle them forever. The teenagers and tweenies that form the main crime demographics in Nigeria do so as a way of getting back at grownups that have failed them. There is a sense of generational injustice in them; more reason we have to take it easy with them.

That we even refer to them as boys, girls, children or kids because the economy keeps them unmarried is a tad disrespectful. They are adults. They are men. They are women. They know what their parents, who were children of farmers, accomplished at 40 and they in their 40s, children of middle class, are frustratingly trying to find their feet. Aluta is not continual, victory should be certain for them.

Unfortunately, powers that be don’t have that sense of urgency to responding to public grievances. What originally started as scrapping of a tax bill spiraled into #RutoMustGo. Recollect, it was the price of bread that triggered the Arab Springs that led to regime change across the Middle East and what started as a protest against Jacob Zuma’s imprisonment was taken over by unemployed South Africans demanding social justice. Protests usual begin from unlikely sources and have lives of their own. Because it is the unscripted moments that make news, protests that morph into revolutions can arise from a disgruntled citizen refusing to come down a telecoms mast because of insecurity and hardship or another counting his losses due to flash floods. So the timelier leaders attend to hunger dey o flags or the warning strikes of university workers before events become undoable, the better for them. This could not only save their seats, it could earn them respect and legitimacy in the hearts of the electorate.

Kenyan youths feel betrayed by Ruto who campaigned on what he would do for them. They voted massively for him in 2022 but now want him out despite his backing down on signing the Finance Bill, conceding to reduction in salaries of elected officials and scrapping budget for First Lady’s office. It only shows #RejectFinanceBill2024 is a culmination of anger for years of unemployment and disenfranchisement from the economic circle. Ruto had allowed it to grow cancerous, now the hands of time cannot be unwound. President-elect becomes president-reject.

The blistering rage of Kenyan youths climbed Kilimanjarian heights after Ruto returned from America. Ruto had received a red carpet welcome. He was the first African leader to be so chorographically received in 18 years. Ruto was accused of chartering a private jet worth millions of Kenyan shillings for the US visit instead of using Kenyan Airways. Ruto had explained that the journey was sponsored by friends. Besides these grandiose display of wealth by public officers who preach austerity to the citizenry, the relationship with the West was questioned. 

*Okunfolami, a public affairs commentator, wrote from Festac, Lagos