Contenders scramble to woo youth constituency

By Ken-Arthur Wekesa

Mimi naitwa Rapho...natangaza kuvai kuwa prezzo...nataka kutoa hii nchi yetu kwa siasa za tenee...na understand challenge za kuwa na wazazi wasiokuwa masonko...naelewa stori ya kudoz bila kumanga na kusota...(My name is Raphael and I am vying for presidency. I want to free our constitutional democracy from the shackles of status quo. I understand what it means to be born of poor parents and am alive to sleeping on empty stomach and being broke).

These words laced in sheng lingo attributed to Raphael Tuju of the Party of Action when he recently ran a televised advert indicates the extent to which the scramble for the youth constituency has gained momentum.

From crafting slogans that are youth alluring like Poa or tuko freshy among others, to straddling the social media and aligning themselves with outfits defined with youthful faces at the leadership brass, presidential aspirants are burning the midnight oil to endear themselves to the youth.

Upper echelons

Nearly all aspirants are active in social media platforms to reach out to the youth with the hope of bagging more votes come elections. Contrary to the past where the philosophy of Kenya’s politics was largely defined by the Old Guard occupying the upper echelons of political parties, presidential hopefuls are embracing outfits with young people at the helm, as a strategy to woo them.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice-President, Kalonzo Musyoka, Deputy Prime Ministers Musalia Mudavadi and Uhuru Kenyatta, Former ministers Mr Tuju and Martha Karua, are among those burning the midnight oil to appeal to the youth who constitute majority of the nation’s voting population.

The newfound obsession with the youth constituency is extra ordinary and political commentators link the sudden strategy shift to the new Constitution, which moves towards mainstreaming youth in terms of representation in coveted elective posts.

Presidential hopefuls are also aware of young professionals’ ability to shape the political discourse and mobilise human and capital resource towards a course.

Vibrant segment

“The new Constitution is alive to the reality that the youth are the high-octane that bursts if the forward gear is not engaged and as such, they ought to be involved in all socio-political and economic spheres more proactively,” says political scientist Joseph Magutt.

Mr Magutt also acknowledges the renaissance of a vibrant youth force alive to the fact that they are ‘leaders of today as tomorrow never comes’.

He says some youths have gone a notch higher to register political parties with convictions that have even attracted major presidential aspirants.

Mr Mudavadi and Mr Uhuru have since joined United Democratic Forum (UDF) and The National Alliance (TNA) respectively, which have young faces at the helm. “The youth must be involved in mainstream management of political parties because they form majority of the population,” says TNA chairman Johnson Sakaja.

Magutt says there is a significant appreciation of youth at various political party leadership levels. He says Tuju should be given credit for aggressively reaching out to the hitherto overlooked youth province.

“Tuju may have overstretched his creativity but give him a thumbs up for placing the youth agenda at a pedestal,” says Magutt.

Tuju says by choosing to run with the issues of the youth, political parties were on the right track.

“I hope other parties’ promises to the youth are not just empty rhetoric aimed at ascending to power. Party of Action 12-point manifesto is anchored on the youth agenda,” Tuju told The Standard On Sunday.

Richard Bosire of University of Nairobi’s political science department says being techno savvy, energetic, vibrant, creative and innovative makes the youth an invaluable asset to a campaign machine. “The youth are on Twitter, blogs and Facebook where communication thereon goes viral. They are mobilisers with ability to inform a revolution. They did it in the Arab nations of Tunisia and Egypt,” says Dr Bosire.

The don, however, says the youths’ gullibility and vulnerability is also what the political elite is capitalising on. “Majority of them are the poor, hungry and unemployed who can be manipulated at the behest of the moneyed ruling class,” he says.

UDF promises a vibrant policy for the youth that goes beyond the cliché of them (youth) being a homogeneous group of the unemployed. 

“Youth want practical solutions to economic challenges they face as opposed to condensing reference to them. They want a regime that implements their ideas, that is what the UDF youth blue print is all about,” says Mudavadi’s spokesman Kibisu Kabatesi.