Vijana Tugutuke: Acting Beyond the Vision by Mwangi Gituro

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That the youth should want to stand up and take charge of this nation’s affairs politically is a cool idea. That this campaign should be fronted and engineered by the youths themselves is an even more mzuri thinking. Having been led by M.O.1 like forever, we thought a change in that office could bring a new vision and a different way of doing things. Change did come alright but to our chagrin things that have torn this country apart like corruption remained the same. A knight of the Kibaki admin will defend to death the development record of him and compare it to the 24 year ruin of the M.O.1 admin (a comparison I deem unfair to M.O.1) and explain to anyone who cares to listen how children are now going to school for free, how KRA has doubled its collection, how KPA has become transparent bla bla blaaaah bla bla blaaaah. While it is true that the kibaki gava has done a lot, I am of the opinion that it could have done better. What happened to the 100 days of new constitution delivering? Why did they have to append their signature to the MOU knowing well they would not honour it? And what about the promise of having a leaner cabinet? We now have over what….. 30 ministers and a gazillion assistants who include some of the most illiterate Kenyans alive? And isn’t it after 2002 that all the retirees who had milked this country dry in the Moi era were recalled to fill vacancies that were left when Moi’s tribal kinsmen were sent packing. The mandate we gave NARC was the closest we will ever come to having a dream gava. Hell! We almost became a bigger democracy than the “father” of all democracies himself. We were tops in Africa after 2002 but we were eager to return to the bottom as fast as we had risen. Corruption remained the same, nepotism was only upgraded to involve only the qualified kinsmen and political bickering has never risen to these heights before. It was evident from the beginning that the hope Kenya’s had eagerly looked forward to upon Moi’s exit would not be delivered by these old wazees. The old folks have failed us again and by all indications and past experiences, they are going to fail us again. It is behind this backdrop of failure and betrayal that the vijana tugutuke idea is grand and long overdue. My suggestion is that we now move away from the dream and embrace implementation. So far (and I stand to be corrected) all we have done is go round the country to major towns and encourage the youths to register as voters. We need to look into possibilities whether we can have our own party and field candidates in the next general elections. We need to formulate a unique and concrete campaign agenda that’s going to appeal to womenfolk and the youth. We should consider cashing in on the number of youth and women votes who form the biggest voting block in Kenya. A collabo between the youths and women would almost guarantee us a clean sweep and there are more reasons as to why the youths and women should work together. First, the two groups have suffered most from the consequences of bad governance and marginalization in politics and the economy. Women also suffer most when their sons are weighed down by the stress of joblessness and they resort to drug addiction and crime. The AIDS pandemic can be blamed on the Gava coz it has been made worse in this country due to poverty. Since poverty can directly be blamed on the gava’s poor economic policy and wealth distribution (not forgetting grand corruption), then it is true to say that the gava is a major player in the spread of the scourge. This revelation packaged in a good agenda would sweep Kenyans off their feet. Kenyans right now need an overwhelming political change and the current political dispensation isn’t the one to offer it. We need to offer a new crop of leaders who have not been in the system and whose outlook of political issues is different. This being the information age, we need to capitalize on the mass media and get our message far and wide. We need to establish what I would call LYV (read as laive) (League of Young Voters). The purpose of this league would be to try and detribalize the youths and have them looking at national issues from a patriotic point of view. The league would also aim at negotiating for youths rights. We could have members enlist for this league online just to get a feel of how many youths are with us. More also need to be done to consolidate the votes of the rural youths and help save this initiative from being branded an elites only project. Groups are realigning themselves for next year’s general elections and we as the youth should not be left behind. The other option is to use the magic of numbers. We can have as many youths registering and pledging to vote such that no politician in his or her right senses will afford to ignore us. With numbers, we can afford to turn the 2007 campaigns into a youth agenda where each party will have to come clean on their position when it comes to matters concerning the youths. Let us have everybody on board. From our university students to those in college. From youth groups and women groups all over the country to the very individual. From the jobless to the”jobfull” youth to the executive female in the office. We have the advantage of freshness and the control of information technology on our side. We could have a female candidate for the presidency and this would almost assure us of the women votes to an individual. The campaign strategy is to make it clear that the change that Kenyans so much yearn for is not in the forefront agenda of NARC-K, ODM-K (and its runaway half bro), FORD-K or any other K-suffixed party that may come about. NARC laid down the groundwork for unfaithfulness and we are bound to see it repeat over and over again whenever a successful candidate is handed the key to state house. Let us tell them loud and clear that we are tired of politicians and now need visionaries on the hill. Kenyans are euphoric and will tend to cling onto any vehicle that carries with it a promise of good governance and poverty alleviation. This need not be a mere political utterance for vote consolidation. The youths in collaboration with the womenfolk can make this come true. After all, haven’t the older men used it on us in past elections to get to power? Think of how much more it would become a gospel were it to be used by the very marginalized. Let us hit with a bang such that come 2008, the older men won’t know what hit them. Ni tyme yetu sasa. Tugutuke.

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