The Next one will be Messy! My reflection on the Gen-Z clamour for change

The Next one will be Messy! My reflection on the Gen-Z clamour for change

Recently, a friend of mine came worried to us; ‘I swear I don’t know what to do with this child’, she lamented in pain referring to her 17-year-old daughter.

The reason was that our friend had asked her daughter why she came home past her curfew hours and the daughter asked ‘What time do you want people coming to your house’?

The ‘Your house’ bit is what was shocking. How dare a child speak to a parent like that?

The Gen-Z generation is a complex one; on one hand, they live in an age with so much information and one that is heavily rights-based while their parents grew up in an age of parental approval and constraints.

The Next one will be Messy!

Raising Gen-Z must be on different terms than what we (I am a Millennial) were raised on.

Secondly, Gen-Z’s life choices are purely based on their peers and not ‘older folk’. For this reason, the sons and daughters of politicians being seen on the streets of Nairobi, Nakuru, Mombasa, and even Laikipia was purely ‘to belong’.

One son was heard saying ‘I would rather my Dad is mad at me than my pals be’. Indeed, it is being said that some of the politician’s children who came to the streets did so to protect their image! Interestingly, a lot of people have asked where could Gen-Z be getting data like pay slip information, contacts, etc.

The Gen X leaders are still burying their heads in the sand on the fact that Gen-Z’s are the current bankers, Doctors, teachers, police officers, parliamentary clerks, etc. They are half of the Kenyan population!

The Next one will be Messy!

Read also:Gen Z Calls for Fresh Start in Ruto’s Cabinet Amid Corruption Scandals

There is another school of thought that the Gen-Z’s recent reactions are a product of their parents’ frustration! Today’s parents (mostly from the X generation) are living in very tough economic times and unlike the older folks who kept their frustration away from their children, the current crop of parents are quick to show their anger on government policies to their children.

Exhibited when a parent asks their son or daughter to monitor the news on the 14th of every month to see how much they will add to fuel prices, complains each year about MP’s salary hikes and their opulence, or asks their teenage daughter not to put on the hot water shower for more than 5 minutes due to the ever-rising electricity bills, the Gen-Z feel directed targeted and impacted negatively by the government’s decisions.

It is important to note that this is the same generation we ‘bought’ space for in schools, we again ‘bought’ police force and army jobs for, we bribed CDF offices to give them bursaries etc.; making the complexity even worse!

A Gen-Z who has missed school for close to two terms in their lifetime due to teachers’ strikes as they demand their salaries and has seen teachers, doctors, etc. on the streets fighting for their rights has a mindset that the government only listens to chaos. And from the recent events, chaos is adrenaline for that age!

The Next one will be Messy!

So frustrated parents and teachers whose approval Gen-Z aren’t seeking and Gen-Z, who are united, armed with all the information they can gather, and are willing to take matters into their hands is the perfect recipe for chaos for a government that is still ruling with the Gen X mentality of loyalty, submission, and use of brute force.

But I am more worried about 2027! These Gen-Z protests are a precursor to a very turbulent 2027 election! It began with the 2023 finance bill protests, the 2024 ones went a notch higher, and the next one will even be worse! Not to be a doomsday conspirator but Gen-Z’s way of acting is a little more personalized than the Gen X have seen in elections.

The poor policies in the country have affected the Gen-Z in a personal way and so their reaction is Personal! Politicians with no morals have led Gen-Z to this desperate point.

The extent they are willing to go is taking us to the precipice of dark times. While everyone is seizing the moment to be part of ‘today’s wins,’ Gen-Z has their eyes set on a new tomorrow!

Peter Ngure Is The Founder Pathways Policy Institute

Ends….