Kenya marks watershed in democracy path

Tomorrow, June 25, 2025, is a milestone in Kenya’s history as citizens mark the day one year ago when courageous young Kenyans, called Gen Z, dramatically recalibrated the nation’s political trajectory.
This day will forever remain etched in the country’s torturous journey for democracy and liberation from totalitarianism, exploitation and human rights violations. It can only be compared to two other historic dates – Independence Day, December 12, 1963 and the Promulgation of the Constitution, August 27, 2010.
The numbers of this date bear uncanny significance. They fall on the 25th day of the sixth month of the year 2025, and also depict the average age (25) of the Gen Z youth, whose popular countrywide mass protests shook the establishment to the core.
On this day last year, the disenchanted youth, in their millions, exercised their democratic right and sovereignty of the people enshrined in the 2010 Constitution and forced President William Ruto to hastily withdraw the controversial Finance Bill, 2024.
They also stormed Parliament, sending politically compromised legislators who had endorsed the Bill scampering for safety. Young Kenyans bravely carried the weight of public indignation against the Executive and the Legislature on their shoulders in an extraordinary demonstration of people power.
Last year’s massive protests remain the sharpest indictment of President Ruto’s leadership and the Legislature he controlled through constitutional manipulation. The protests also unravelled the wide credibility gap and mistrust between the national leadership and the people.
Today, Gen Z represent the majority of citizens’ disillusionment with Ruto’s administration within and outside Parliament, his face-saving mongrel broad-based government crafted with Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga notwithstanding.
The severity of the youth’s and popular public anger against the bill morphed into anger at the arrogance and condescending attitude towards the people who have donated their sovereign power to them.
While traces remain of that conceited sense of bravado acquired through political deception and ill-got wealth derived from corruption of public coffers, as revealed in numerous Auditor-General reports, the Gen Z protests have toned them down.
The national leadership and the State are under sharp scrutiny. The Gen Z have emboldened democratic forces, the clergy, civil society and the media against violations of the constitutional principles of integrity, transparency and accountability.
Citizens, reeling from the harsh economic measures the Gen Z glaringly brought to the fore, are also exasperated by the boisterous, deceptive political rhetoric that has become the hallmark of the Kenya Kwanza administration.
All eyes are on the first Gen Z anniversary tomorrow, during which the young Kenyans will assert their indelible mark in the annals of Kenya’s history as a powerful political force whose robust impact will certainly be felt in the 2027 elections.
The timing of the anniversary is bad for the government, especially following the killing in police cells of young blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang’, evoking memories of dozens of unresolved killings and abductions by suspected State agents.
How the State and security agencies handle tomorrow’s anniversary will determine the current and future stability of the nation.
The writer comments on national affairs