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The scramble for Gen Z vote is a sign of panic

Youth during Sasa Sasa protest in Kitengela, on July 7, 2025. [File, Standard]

Something has fundamentally shifted in Kenya. The Gen Z-led protests of 2024 were a political earthquake, revealing a new, unpredictable force in the political landscape.

With the 2027 elections in sight, politicians are in a panicked scramble to win over young voters. It looks more and more like the European powers' scramble for Africa in the Berlin Conference of 1884. In that meeting, European leaders carved up a continent and established rules for its exploitation, all without a single African representative in the room. This is the same disregard for agency we are witnessing today.

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