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Young Kenyans are changing the narratives not just in our politics but also in putting the mobilisation hypothesis of the digital revolution to good effect. You see, status quo apologists say that the internet revolution, rather than encouraging new voices, has become an additional platform for political powers to stifle rather than revolutionalise democratic advocacy and political activism.

But optimists must be encouraged by what Gen Zs have done in using the digital media platforms, especially social media, to exchange knowledge and engagements that have given citizens diverse perspectives outside the traditional gatekeepers in politics or the media.

The Gen Zs have led an extraordinary civil protest and leveraged the internet in a fashion that has engaged with specific issues affecting Kenyans on their own terms directly rather than via hierarchical gatekeeping structures that tend to protect the privileged position of the elites. They have substantially shifted power to citizens, and the President’s joining them on X Spaces has probably started a journey that will affect many democracies in Africa and beyond.

Critics have opined that the President cannot solve all the problems of Kenya and that he ought not to have gone on X Spaces to engage Gen Zs, but he did just that. Pretty much a statement of intent that he is ready to roll up his sleeves and take every small challenge the young people present. Might be a great gamble by the President, but this move portends a great deal for our democracy and heralds a very interesting culture of political accountability.

You see, one thing the establishment does not seem to realise is the reality that even though Gen Zs present the face and leadership of this new-age civil disobedience, the revolt is by the entire populace. Older people who voted in the last elections for a departure from the old political order have since realised that the hustler ideal was like a direct jump from a frying pan to a burning fire. It is this generation that is making it possible in every way for Gen Zs to do their thing. Folks from this generation, be they parents, guardians or even employers, either sanctioned the protests or because of their struggles and resignation to their fate spurred a new tech-savvy generation of young men and women to dare the establishment.

The President has taken the bait, or should we say taken the challenge and inadvertently established a tradition of answering to citizens on this fifth estate of a platform. Here the establishment will answer to citizens on public-interest issues without the hierarchical structures cited above. By trailing the blaze, the President has opened the floodgates for public scrutiny and political accountability and I doubt any Cabinet secretary or State officer of worth would escape public accountability when Gen Zs call them out to account.

The President’s actions remind me of the William Ruto of the campaign periods who dared to talk of the insurmountable mission of beating what he called the system and did just that. Now, don’t get me wrong on how he did it because my take on the last elections is in the public domain. But, hey, he did beat everything and rose to become our President. His success is our success. Therefore, to take the gauntlet and put himself on this tricky line of either solving each problem raised by Gen Zs or face their wrath is good news.

The President has made himself the lowest hanging fruit on accountability and probably saved Parliament from the wrath of Gen Zs. This is great because Gen Zs and millennials constitute the most consequential demographic in our democracy today and by putting himself in their firing line, he has got to deliver.

— The writer is a PhD student in Political Communication