Last weekend, groups of politicians and functionaries drawn from the ruling Kenya Kwanza Alliance congregated in various parts of the country – including my Malava Constituency in Kakamega county. Their agenda was one. To ostensibly throw jibes at retired President Uhuru Kenyatta.

In what appeared to be a well-rehearsed cinema, the politicians lambasted Uhuru over his statements two days earlier during a public lecture at Makerere University in Uganda where he asked youths on the African continent to fight for and defend democracy and their rights. Uhuru’s message at the second annual Guild Leaders’ Summit 2025 was very progressive.

He urged the youth to recognize this as an “independence moment,” where they must step up as the last line of defence in the battle to rescue the heart and soul of Africa for the sake of future generations. But some people did not take this well.

They say the guilty are always afraid. It is ironic that while the immediate former Kenyan President made his remarks while in the neighbouring country, it was leaders from his home country who were incensed by what he said.

Kenya has so many challenges today that require immediate and serious attention by those in power.

Misplaced priorities

I find it difficult to understand why instead of dealing with the hurdles the nation is faced with, the people in Government would pre-occupy themselves with handing prescriptions to a former Head of State on what to say and how to say it.

That is balderdash. Unemployment, corruption, a limping economy, a dysfunctional education curriculum, a disjointed healthcare system, a reckless transport sector, negative ethnicity and lmassive poverty are consuming Kenya on an unimaginable scale on a daily basis.

These are the issues people in Government should be concerned with. Unfortunately they are not. Instead they want to edit our speeches, both in private and public spaces.

The attempt to gag Uhuru is a retrogressive bid aimed at silencing all of us.

Indeed, the Kenya Kwanza regime has remained consistently determined since ascending to power in September 2022 in its attempt to suppress our hard-earned freedoms.

Every week we witness State agencies trying to infringe on our freedom of expression, press, association, worship and many civil liberties. There is too much Government in our lives today. That is untenable. The people in Government today must concentrate on their core mandate. Purporting to strangulate our freedoms is not one of them.

Like the rest of us, Uhuru has every right to express himself the way he wishes to. The law allows him to.

It is the height of hypocrisy for some people in some corners of the country to purport to dish to him what to say and when to say it.
In any case, what Uhuru told the audience at Makerere University is nothing new. He was only reiterating what has been said again and again by many other people over the years.

Former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle run a Foundation whose sole mission is to empower youths around the world. Nobody in America or anywhere is the world has been offended by the Obamas’ activities and utterances. South Africa’s former President Thabo Mbeki gives public lectures in various universities around the world impartting the same message in our youths. Nobody yaps at him. Why then should it be that when Uhuru gives his opinion at a public event every form of quasi-Don Quixotes are unleashed to hurl insolence at him?

The democracy we enjoy today was earned through very painful experiences. Some Kenyans lost their lives in their quest for a just system of governance. Others were maimed. This democracy did not come easy.

Noticeably, however, the ensemble that is Kenya Kwanza Alliance today is a composition of Kanu hardliners who were rigidly opposed to the re-introduction of multi-party democracy in Kenya. They are still reluctant to date to allow plural politics to thrive.

However, their bid to tame our freedoms is wishful thinking that cannot be allowed to flourish. Kenyans will resist and continue to talk as freely as they can through established constitutional provisions.

The youths in this country are as enlightened as any other in the world. Kenya;s youth can clearly see what is happening in other parts of the world where young leadership is reforming their countries.

They can see what is happening in Sweden, Finland and United Kingdom.

These youths are also able to follow what is happening in Senegal, Burkina Faso and Niger and appreciate.

They know where Africa should be going. Ibrahim Traore, the transitional president of Burkina Faso has shown them so. They also know which political and economic route Kenya should be taking.

Purporting to stop Uhuru from addressing the youths is a waste of time. The youths know what they want.

Let Uhuru speak his mind. The law allows him to.

-The author is a Revise Editor with People Daily: