In 2017, I participated in the Westgate Mall Talent search. I had just joined campus and was looking for spaces to refine my poetry skills.  

I had never performed on stage, so I was ignorant of what goes on before auditioning. The research, writing, and rehearsing.  

On audition day, I had massive stage fright that made the judges disqualify me before I could utter a word.  

I remember feeling so embarrassed and disappointed, pleading with them to give me another chance. I felt so small. I did not have a fighting chance. 

You might be tempted to think that that’s a small issue compared with what Butere Girls High School felt before the courts ruled for their banned play, “Echoes of War”, planned for staging in the National Drama Festivals, and you’d be right.  

When I first came across the news that the play had been banned from being staged even after it had qualified, I was shocked.  

First, because the government actively works to silence young people who are only mirroring what’s happening in society.  

Second, because there are bigger fish to catch, yet the play was banned because, among many other reasons, it would embarrass the First Lady, an alumnus of Butere Girls. 

This makes me wonder, at what point did the nation turn into experts in image and reputation management for the first lady?  

That it had to be done away with lest the First Lady lose sleep over it. What, in the play, was so awful that the First Lady would cringe watching or hearing about it?  

If anything, and I’m saying this with all due respect for her, she should have been proud of the work the creatives at Butere Girls put into “Echoes of War”.  

It’s one of those plays that someone in Kamulu and another one in Karen could nod in agreement with, signalling the fact that it’s an important play of our time. 

The play, written by former Kakamega senator Cleophas Malala, explores themes such as social justice, universal healthcare, good governance, and technology.  

It’s timely because it came just a few months after the Gen Z uprising in 2025 that sought to challenge the same issue that is the subject of this play. 

To think that the government still suppresses the freedom of expression that’s deeply enshrined in the Constitution is both unacceptable and barbarous.  

The power that young people, mostly Gen Zs and Millennials, have to change the status quo is massive.  

It is easy to see why when young people ‘crow,’ the walls of State House tremble. This fearless generation will continue to ‘inject’ until the government starts focusing on things that ail this nation and leave their little games aside. 

The Constitution, the courts, and people like Anifa Mango and Okiya Omtatah are key players we should always pray for, because without them, issues like banning a harmless high school play would keep happening often. 

Mango is behind the petition that made the government allow “Echoes of War” to be staged in the National Drama Festivals again.  

As for those who care about their reputation, it is time to remind them publicity stunts are seasonal, while putting in the work to maintain a good image is a continuous process. Let them not make us fast and pray for them, because we can.  

Remind them that we are awake now and see all that they do, and we are not afraid to call them out.  

As intimidating as it may be, as frightening as it may be, we will continue to speak our minds, because as someone once said during the Gen Z protests, the people SHALL! 

— The writer is the founder of Tabasamu Concept, a community that creates spaces for Gen Zs to network, unwind and spread positivity