Last Wednesday’s deadly and destructive Gen Z anniversary protests glaringly painfully exposed the true state of our troubled nation. 

No amount of blame games, grandstanding, intimidation or self-righteousness will wish away the bitter truth that Kenya is in a deep national crisis of governance that demands critical introspection. 

One major lesson learned from last week’s shocking events is that Kenyans are angry, the government (national leadership) is angry, spiritual leaders are angry, and young people are angriest of them all. 

So, who will save Kenya from this terrible affliction of anger threatening to tear our nation apart if we are all angry? Before seeking divine intervention, we must all manage our latent and concealed rage, starting from the top. Anger begets anger. 

Remember that caricature of two mean-looking men glaring at each other above a caption: “Don’t argue with a fool, people might not notice the difference!?” 

Leadership must be reminded that, however much power is wielded, it all belongs to and is borrowed from the people. The people’s grievances, in exercise of democratic rights, must be listened to, not with arrogance, anger and threats of reprisal, but with humility and sombre reflection. 

Freedom fighters who secured independence from colonialism, heroes of the second liberation struggle, the 2010 Constitution and now the Gen Z-inspired “third liberation”, confined authoritarianism and repression to the dustbins of history. 

Gen Z anniversary protests were a stark reminder to the authorities of the reason(s) that led to the 25 June 2024 popular mass protests, which started peacefully but were met with police brutality, killings and other human rights violations targeting young Kenyans. 

Clamping down on the youths’ expressions of the wishes of the majority of citizens with brutal force shattered the fallacy of the State apparatus’ condescending manipulation of the constitutional oath to protect lives and property that the Gen Z anniversary so spectacularly exposed. 

The youth are demanding a rapid departure from political and economic affairs riddled with corruption, negative ethnicity, political deceit, arrogance, and, significantly, unemployment affecting them most. 

They remain resilient in their inalienable right to be at the centre of the exodus out of angry, repugnant and condescending politics stifling democracy and socio-economic growth, locking the youth out of governance and the economy. 

For exposing glaring inadequacies in national leadership and economic spheres, the establishment persists in neglecting young people in favour of recycled older-generation and dubious characters.  

Instead of assuaging young people’s anger with pragmatism in an all-inclusive national conversation, they are greeted with an iron fist. No remorse for killings and abductions that have left mothers in perpetual grief.  

We are playing with fire here. What do we think when goons burn police stations? The fear is that this fire could become uncontrollable and consume us all, power included, if we refuse to listen to the seething millions of youths and refrain from wrath and reprisal. The State will never win a war against the people, the media and the Church. 

When citizens are ignored, they appeal to God. They demand their power back in the way they deem fit, as happened in 1989 in Romania under Ceaușescu. Even, God forbid, in the spontaneous, tragic, anarchic, devastating manner witnessed last week.  

The writer comments on national affairs