The Struggling Citizenship of the Young
My father likes to deposit nostalgic memories of the past in our conversations and during his Sunday sermons; specifically on what life was in the 70’s and 80’s in Nairobi. Growing up in Salem, he often tells us about how clean the estate streets were, how the milk man delivered glass-bottled milk to their doorsteps daily, how efficient and orderly the Kenya public bus system was and how public spaces were havens of peace. It was every young persons’ dream to come to Nairobi, the green city under the sun. He often reminds us about what it meant to be a citizen back then. The silent struggle of many to be freed from the chains of a dictatorship. The agitated and courageous men who chose a different path of liberation, one of open rebellion. Silent or rebellious, a great percentage wanted the same thing -change. When the winds of change finally blew in the early 2000’s, every ‘woke’ citizen knew it was up to them to ensure that corruption, violence, poverty and ethnicity was a by-word in the nation’s history books. My guess is that my father woke up bright and early in 27 December 2002, with the hope that his vote would change everything (and lots of things changed, just not everything).
Twenty years ago, I danced to the political tunes of change ‘I am unbowgable!’ by Gidigidi Majimaji in support of former President Mwai Kibaki victorious presidential election campaign. Of course I was a child, 7 to be exact but even at such a tender age, I could tell that this election was a blank canvas. It was a big deal and a chance to repaint the destiny of our nation.
Today we face a very different dynamic.
Only 1.4 Million Kenyans registered as new voters with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission in November 2022 against a set target of 6 Million.
At the age of 27, I struggle to connect with my father’s experiences on possible change. I struggle to understand what citizenship actually means for me. I am still on the fence on whether I will vote in Ballot 2022 (even though I've voted twice before). And this is the struggle for many in my age group. Avalanches of disappointment have hit us regime after regime, and so many of us have grown apathetic to the struggle for democracy and human rights. And unlike our fathers, many of us would rather immerse ourselves and focus on the latest trends, our businesses and work, pleasure and the endemic socialite behavior that has drowned the youngest and brightest among us.
So how can we remedy this? How can we make young people strong active citizens? There is no short and straight answer to this question. However, I only see two ways this can be done so far at a personal level:
- Do the easy work of dreaming and defining the kind of nation you want
- Do the hard work of determining what it would take for you to make that dream a reality
The first one is easy because if you open your eyes to the environment around you (no matter your economic status) you will find a problem in your own life or in the life of another (especially the life of the poorer person) that needs solving. In your quest to solve, you will begin to dream and define the kind of life that you want for yourself and others around you. Now what i want to say next is very important.
Write it Down. Write down that dream. In writing, you are defining what you want to see change in your life, your community and this nation. Be as specific as possible. Often it is in dreaming that we see, in writing that we decide and in doing that we realize.
The second one is hard because it means that you will have to sit down and do your research. Research means you need to understand the eco-system of the place you want change. It will mean talking to people who understand that problem and system, looking for like-minded people, lots of desk research but most importantly, going to the trenches where the problem is prevalent and humbly asking ‘what can I do?’. Whilst there is room for naivety as you begin, you cannot assume that you hold the answers all by yourself further along the road. However, you can never do enough research to actually immerse yourself in active citizen participation.
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
~Arthur Ashe
Rome was not built in a day so change cannot happen in a day. But when you start, the wheels of change will begin to roll in your favor inch by inch. This post is not about whether you vote or not, or whom you should vote or shouldn’t, that’s your choice. It’s about defining your citizenship as a young person in Kenya today. Its about unshackling yourself from self-pity, selfishness and dispiritedness that is endemic among we the young people of Kenya.
Refuse to be a struggle citizen. Own your dream for this nation and make it a reality. Practice active citizenship. In the words of the Late Nobel Peace Prize Winner Professor Wangari Maathai…
“There comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness . . . that time is now.”
― Wangari Maathai
