To end Generation Z protests or not? That is the big question

Youth during Gen Z anniversary protests in Kisii, on June 25, 2025. [Sammy Omingo, Standard]

Our economy is on the back foot. Our confidence in the Kenyan promise has tanked more than at any other time. The citizens are scarred and scared. Nobody feels safe. Everyone is wondering if they are next. The schism between the government and the people continues to widen. "We are dying” seems to be the collective wounded cry of a generation. We decry very high taxes, broken public healthcare system, broken public transport system, broken public school system and the broken politics is the icing on this cake of sorrow.

In a bid to prick the conscience of those in power, the people, in their infinite wisdom resorted to take refuge under article 37 of the Constitution; to exercise the right to assemble and picket, demonstrate and present petitions. At least 19 families are mourning their loved ones, most of them killed by police bullets. There are so many injured, so much property destroyed. The least talked about, but equally disturbing, is number of women and girls who have been sexually assaulted.