Raila Odinga Should Keep Off The Gen Z Protests

Today Raila has made the blunder of speaking for Gen Z following their historical protests. He claims to represent them in calling for dialogue with President William Ruto and the powers that be. He says that this dialogue will chart the way forward in regards to the Finance bill and other woes young Kenyans have with this government.

Unfortunately for Raila, this is proving to be a political gaffe judging from the responses online on social media. Personally, I am loving this reaction. It is of paramount importance that no leader be identified for the Finance Bill protests. This is because if a leader is indeed pointed out, there is a good chance that the whole matter is politicized. By that I mean that it will now be watered down into a fight between so and so vs Ruto. Observations would be directed at which leader could throw the best verbal bombs at the other, instead of focusing on the issues. Just look at how much progress has been made so far on the bill. The government is actually retreating! If Raila inserts himself as the leader, it would just devolve into useless spectating on how “Raila said this” and “Ruto replied that.”

Any identified leader could also be tempted to turn the issue into a game of political musical chairs. Using the protests to create some useless position in the government which Raila could sit in. This should not be the goal of the protests. We have tried “nusu mkate” before with opposition leaders having seats in government. It didn’t work. Let the Gen Zs carry on their leaderless protests which are yielding results faster than anything Raila has ever done.