President Ruto, against all expectations, engaged in an unprecedented online discussion with the young men and women who, a few weeks ago, he could not, supposedly, see eye to eye.
Many pundits have tried to digest what we can generally refer to as take-homes from President Ruto and the ardent Gen Zs who have turned our streets into battlefields of some sorts for the last two weeks. It was not uncommon to see street contests between demonstrators and police officers, often to detrimental consequences as lives and properties were lost.
When the President sought to address the issue through an interview with battle-hardened journalists, many thought that he came out with egg on his face. It was this “spoiled” image that the President seemed keen to correct from the onset. This he did, in my opinion, and emerged with a smile at the end.
I must commend the Gen-Zs too for conducting a great discussion with the President. The young people demonstrated that theirs is an issue-based struggle against injustice in society. There is definitely no love lost between the young generation and their leaders but better relations could come of leaders tamed their extreme tendencies.
The X Spaces #EngageThePresident clearly saw the young people take their struggle a notch higher.