By: Chiro Martin
Think of it, when protests are over, how many times have we watched or read the news stating that at last policies have finally been implemented or changed? Well, they are countable. Even when they do happen, what is always the cost? It always saddens me when the price is paid in human life. This means a problem has been solved with another problem. Sooner or later, activists are on their way again to solve the after-problem.
As a young revolutionary, I appreciate the role of protests but I vote for an extension of that energy, I vote for policy change.
This thought is in no way refuting the constitutional right to demonstrate but I suggest policy change with the awareness that most demonstrations turn tragic. Where peaceful cries are met with excessive force by the police. In some occasions, goons hijack peaceful demonstrations and spread terror. Like a cycle, we have seen it repeat itself too many times. It’s always protests, deaths, repeat.
As youths, we have always marched, most of us only armed with placards and the hope for a better future for our motherland. Hours into the protests, silent body thuds become noisy news all over the country. Then it is time for the statistics, counting of the fallen soldiers, most of them young men and women who were unarmed. Their only mistake is calling out injustice. Since we always have often failed to do what matters the most, influencing policy changes, injustices don’t die, they return under new laws, policies, or even betrayals.
Recently with the new protests in Kenya which were aimed at commemorating the fallen soldiers of 2024 anti-Finance Bill protests, there were 16 deaths and over 400 people who were injured. A dozen others were arrested with some marked as missing persons. It is unfair that we protest against extrajudicial killings but we are met with more extrajudicial killings. This is not justice but a loop of trauma. It’s the story of a cat eating its own children, a revolution devouring its own future. It’s like we are always marching towards our own graves and not towards change.
I honour the bravery that the youths of Kenya have showed in the past one year. For the first time in a long time the youths organized themselves independently without being manipulated by politicians. It was a bold, digital, and revolutionary movement. I also pay homage to the lives we lost. Those young people will forever have their names inscribed in our hearts just like our freedom heroes. Besides the name of Tom Mboya, Dedan Kimathi, and Ronald Ngala, we will have Albert Ojwang, Rex Masai, Kennedy Onyango, and everyone else that paid the ultimate price.
However, allow me to hit you with an uncomfortable truth: Marching alone is not enough. Unless we follow up with engaging the system from withing, the status quo will always be the same. The finance bill may have been adjusted last year but the fact that the youths still remain uncontented is that the structures behind it persists. This is why I strongly vote for policy change.
Activism needs to evolve. Imagine if the same energy that we use to flood the streets is used to fill up public spaces. When policy spaces such as budget hearings, parliamentary submissions, civic education sessions, and electoral spaces are filled by youths. When we understand how bills are made, how public participation works, and get to influence decisions in our country before they become binding laws.
The same constitution that guarantees every Kenyan the right to demonstrate, grants us the right to participate in legislative processes as captured in Article 118. This is equally important yet the numbers of youths showing up when public calls for participation are issues is not satisfying. We have seen political commentators warning us that the status quo may remain past 2027 because the many youths in the streets are likely not to vote change come the next elections.
Let’s treat that as a wake-up call. Some have begun understanding this trick in politics that the political elites have been hiding from us. It’s up to us now to effect change by voting for policy changes. Two years from now, I envision a transformed revolution. One where we don’t just chant “Reject Finance Bill” but we become part of the delegation that draft a better one. Where we the youths of Kenya organize think tanks, civic groups, and watchdog forums that will influence policy changes.
We must know that we have the leverage to change Kenya for the better, not just for ourselves but for everyone who lives and those that will be young and energetic when we are old and exhausted or even ancestors. Right now, our strengths lie in our numbers, digital empowerment, creative abilities, and political consciousness. Not forgetting our rage against systems that have failed us. But we must know that rage without direction leads to misplaced priorities and exhaustion. Strategy as a new ingredient into this change recipe will give our protests legacy and not losses.
From now onwards, let us be driven by the need to be part of the builders of the future and not beg for it. Let’s now vote for policy changes because it is our best shot at honouring all those we’ve lost because what they would want us to do is finish what they started. Our future generations should not just remember our cries but also our strategies. Let’s change the systems now so they won’t have to go to the streets like we did and face what we faced. The battle of guns ended with independence struggle, right now it is the battle of minds and strategies.
Author’s Bio: Chiro Martin, is an author, pan-Africanist, mentor, literary promoter, advocate of social justice, founder of The Afrikan Shujaa Magazine, and chairperson of The Afrikan Shujaa Resource Center.
John Kariuki