Young revolutionaries are gearing up for 'maandamano,' but for private reasons

Youth nabbed during anti-government protests in Mathare being led away by police officers July 19, 2023. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

Young revolutionaries are gearing up for ‘maandamano,’ but for private reasons

“When is the next maandamano?” the youngest man in my household posed on Monday. His elder brother said it was slated for Wednesday.

And sure enough, his school communicated about their migration to online instruction as they monitored the anti-government storm.

But the young man had more than honourable intents.

Come Tuesday, he decreed he wouldn’t shower, “because tomorrow is maandamano.”

I didn’t know how he intended to exercise his civic duty but I suspected he meant there was no point in showering then baking in the sun the following day in the streets.

Only that he didn’t get to the streets. He didn’t even get past the compound gate. Or even watch the events on TV, which is another way of participation.

He just played his online games, attended some of his classes and skipped others.

And the only time he appeared connected was seeing his colleagues online and cracking jokes.

For some duration, he hopped around the house picking or dropping something and I sat within hearing shot of his online class, just in case something important was stated in his absence.

The teacher said there was an assessment to be conducted and a link had been shared in the chat-box.

Opening the link proved harder than expected and a virtual maandamano was building.

I stepped in and explained to the teacher that I hadn’t had much luck with the document either.

“Let’s all be patient,” said the teacher, so I sat and waited for the defective link to be fixed. It had not by the time the class ended, so I’m still waiting because the teacher said so.