When the extended family of Wanjira Wanjiru met over the Christmas holiday last December, their main agenda was a usual family reunion to celebrate the Christian holiday. But they also could not let go before taking the opportunity to warn the 29-year old woman to tone down on political activism, making it clear that they feared for her life.
What with the continued abductions, forced disappearances and killings of youthful critics of the government of Kenya, a trend that has persisted since June 2024, when the youth started street protests across Kenya over an unpopular Finance Bill. “My family expressed fear for my life in view of what has been happening to young people since last year, but I assured them I was taking measures to ensure my safety,” she said.
While she sought to calm their fears, without wanting to sound dismissive of the people closest to her, the University of Nairobi student knew that no one, going by the current spate of abductions is totally safe or out of reach of the masked men that have been reigning terror across the country, but she’s not about to slow down.
“somebody has to do it.”
She will continue her agitation for better governance in Kenya, believing that despite the dangerous circumstances clouding the activism since the Gen Z protests last June, “somebody has to do it.” She told Afrique XXI:
We are fighting for justice, against corruption, misrule, tribalism and disregard for our constitution. In particular, chapter one on sovereignty of the people, chapter 6 on leadership and integrity and chapter 37 on the right to assemble, demonstrate, picket, and petition public authorities peacefully and unarmed.
The community organiser in Nairobi’s deprived Mathare settlement captures the spirit of the Kenya’s young, formidable but amorphous social political force that the Generation Z (Gen Z) have become, remaining defiant and resolute in their anti-government criticism, even in the face of the heightened underhand tactics by state meant to intimidate and cow them.
Serious trouble
The demographic are sustaining their assault on the ruling class and President William Ruto’s government in particular, despite extra-judicial actions, linked to secret units of state security agencies, in what could give a glimpse of forthcoming political showdown with the country’s youthful demographic in next general elections.
With political temperatures already heating up, about two years away from the polls in 2027, the youth are daring the Ruto administration, escalating their activism online through social posts, caricatures, cartoons and Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated images critical of government operatives.
Like elsewhere in the world, Kenya’s Gen Zs, which grew up in the digital age and has greater access to information than previous generations, quickly jumped on the bandwagon, mobilizing on social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and Instagram – critical tools that helped galvanize public support for the protest movement, which culminated in hundreds of protesters storming the National Parliament in Nairobi on June 25.
Some of the online and social media activism has led them into serious trouble, what with the disappearance of not less than 10 of them since last December, and the discovery of two bodies of the disappeared, according the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
“The threats are everywhere.”
Politicians seem deeply angered by moving of the protests online from the streets in mid-2024. The youth have proven their lethal potential in digital activism, drawing caricatures and generating AI images, including those depicting funerals of prominent political leaders, or those of the politicians“lying in state”.
Paul Mark, a community mobiliser and Gen Z activist says that street protests to press for social justice have not ended indefinitely, and will be back whenever need arises, as digital activism sustains the momentum for the moment. “Young Kenyans are in the struggle for better rule for the long haul in accordance with the constitution, undeterred by the enforced disappearances,” he adds. The youth he says will eventually “finish what they started in 2024”, which is to “secure the revolution, by not betraying the revolutionary consciousness” so far displayed by the youth.
“Threats against us are all over but we are not scared, the threats are everywhere including on social media but they do not worry us so much because we have gotten used to them,” he told Afrique XXI. Some of the threats he said came in the form of text and WhatsApp messages, as well as in the form of being trailed by unknown men in the streets of Nairobi.
So far Kenya’s national human rights commission recorded 82 cases of abductions or enforced disappearances between June and December 2024.
Deep unpopularity of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance
Overall, controversy has soared over the continued abductions of youths the latest being a bombshell by a cabinet minister who said his son’s abduction during last year’s anti-government protests was carried out by the National Intelligence Service (NIS), and that the son’ release happened only after direct intervention by President Ruto.
The revelation in January by Minister of Public Service Justin Muturi whose son was abducted during the June/July Gen Zs protests over the infamous Finance Bill served to confirm that Ruto was all along aware of the illegal seizures by the security men, but the head of state is yet to comment.
It has also led to standoff between the judiciary and the security arms of the government, with courts insisting that police heads must appear before judges to explain the whereabouts of the yet missing activists.
It has further led to deep unpopularity of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance government and that of President Ruto in general in some quarters, with widespread outrage being expressed by human rights bodies and the opposition over the politically motivated disappearances.
William Ruto can be held liable for his acts
The acts have also been subject of numerous online and traditional media debates, with Kenyans from across the world convening discourses on X’s Space platform, to discuss the human rights situation in the country, reputed as one the most democratic, freest, and politically progressive of African countries.
The fact the Ruto is aware and abetted the disappearances of the youth, made him liable for prosecution for the acts, since according to the Kenya constitution, while a head of state cannot be sued while in office, he was not in any way above the law, says Canada-based and Kenyan activist Miguna Miguna.
“The fact a president cannot be sued does not mean that he is above the law. He can be held liable for his acts, and from time to time Kenyans have proven that they can call the president to order, a good example being the 2024 protest that made him cease flying all the time and stay home,” the lawyer told an X Space forum.
The position is echoed by Wanjira, who emphasizes that no individual in Kenya is above the law, and calls on the International Criminal Court to open an investigation of Kenya’s underhand tactics aimed at silencing youthful activists.
The 2024 Gen Z protests brought the country to the brink of a near-revolution, challenging the status quo and demanding radical change. Although they were initially sparked by widespread opposition to the 2024/2025 Finance Bill, they quickly evolved into a broader movement against the political establishment, symbolised by figures such as the president himself or the veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, and against external influences such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
