Talks about talks is what is going on in Kenya today concerning the profound political landscape shift brought to Kenyans by the Gen Z rebellion where young Kenyans are demanding a complete stop on any police killings and abductions of Kenyans.
Two; an end to corruption which is crippling the country. Jobs for young Kenyans and the ultimate right to be involved in Kenyan politics as citizens of their country by getting voting cards to participate in Kenyan elections and help choose the leaders of their country.
These are not complicated demands and they look pretty straightforward but for President William Ruto those demands constitute a nightmare because they are the opposite of the things the president believes in and has been carrying out for the last two years for the country.
In Nakuru on Monday, President Ruto came up with a bizarre excuse on why he wants to violate everything Gen Z are demanding in their political actions, which is at great risk to the young Kenyans. A good number of whom have been gunned to death and some abducted and dumped in quarries like the young Denzel Onyango and so many others injured with gunshots and teargas.
President Ruto now claims that all the action Gen Z has been taking to save themselves as human beings and their country is sponsored by the Ford Foundation in Kenya.
Here is an example of how Ford Foundation is helping Gen Z by abducting Kenyans in front of everybody for the Ruto government.
Gen Z has put people like President William Ruto in complete desperation and the first thing they have been trying to invent is about who is funding the Kenyan youth fighting to end corruption in the country and for a better Kenya with affordable cost of living for all.
For the likes of Ruto and his political allies talking about those issues the Gen Z are raising is insanity and can be done if those fighting for the basic rights of Kenya citizens are paid.
Our Kenyan politicians up to the presidency get paid to do anything or just grab money and that is what their politics is all about. The idea that some Kenyans could fight for basic things for the country and get killed doing that is something anybody can only do after they have been paid for what they are doing.
In the Gen Z rebellion shaking the country to its roots the William Ruto mouthpieces have been yelling how the demos are funded by billionaire Mt. Kenya politicians like Uhuru Kenyatta. Then the Ruto Spokesman Isaac Mwaura a few days ago told Kenyans that the funding of the Gen Z was related to the Russia-Ukraine war. Whatever that means.
So if anybody were to believe Ruto and his cohorts then the Mt. Kenya billionaires are piling their billions to Ford Foundation and telling that agency to put that money into the Gen Z protests. How Ford pulled all that off is something only William Ruto can explain to Kenyans. Did Ford put some billions in some open account where Gen Z demonstrators can collect pay every day they attend rallies across the country and they come back alive collect tons of money?
William Ruto has been all over the USA including visiting the Carter Center funded by Ford Foundation in the USA. Was Ruto invited there to help promote the Gen Z rebellion?
Kenyan president arrives in Atlanta ahead of Biden talks in D.C.
Kenya’s President William Ruto (third from left) and his wife Rachel Ruto (in red) are flanked by Carter Center executives, U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams (third from right), and U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman (second from right) outside the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum during the African leader’s visit to Atlanta on May 20, 2024.
The bottom line is that Ford Foundation is one of the biggest non-profit organizations in the world funding so many projects in agriculture, economic development education, and everything in Kenya. Such an institution would have no time to stoop into local politics of any kind. They have humanitarian investments all over the world and Kenya has no special place for them to engage in Ruto petty politics.
Here is the solution for William Ruto.
As the president threatened to ask them to leave, please go ahead and you have the power to immediately order all Ford Foundation assets in Kenya frozen and order them to take their assets and get out of the country very quickly. I am sure as soon as that is done the Gen Z protests will end immediately because the youth will have no money to collect after the protests.
Is Ruto going to that? Of course no because he knows he is lying about Ford Foundation Kenya but he needs those lies to pretend that the youth are inventing problems even as he the president is running a perfect government. The same William Ruto is the one who in the heat of the battle was telling the Gen Z protestors that he has heard their concerns and he is ready to work to make things work better.
Maybe Ruto had drunk a different juice on the day he apologized to Gen Z harmed and killed in the demos than the juice he was drinking in Nakuru when he outrageously tried to drag a respected charitable institution in Kenya to satisfy his failing political program as Kenya’s president. I am going to suggest the president drink Guava Juice all the time. It will help with the stability of the mind.
President Ruto: Ford Foundation Must Stop Sponsoring Violence In Kenya Or They Leave
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 15 – President William Ruto has trained his guns on the Ford Foundation claiming it is the financier of the protests spreading anarchy during his visits in Nakuru County.
The decades-old organization which opened its offices in the country in 1963. During his tour in Nakuru, the President scoffed at them for sponsoring the Generation Z demonstration where protestors gained entry to key government institutions including Parliament.
“Those behind sponsoring the chaos in the republic of Kenya I want to tell them shame on them! Because they are sponsoring violence against our democratic nation. I want to ask the Ford Foundation to tell us they are sponsoring violence for what benefit?” the President stated.
“We are going to call them out and tell them if they are going to sponsor violence and anarchy. We are going to tell them to either style up or leave.”
Gen Z nationwide Tuesday demonstrations dubbed “Rage and Courage”
The Gen Zs are once again gearing up for anti-government demonstrations, set to take place today across all counties in the country.
The protests, branded “Rage and Courage” and trending under the hashtag #OccupyEverywhere #RutoMustGo, are aimed at demanding accountability from leaders and fighting corruption.
In the meantime, Gen Z is back in action across the country on July 16, 2024 in their quest for justice and prosperity for all in their country which they love enough to die for.
The July 16, 2024 Gen Z action will be all over the country. Kenyans will hear what our young brothers and sisters have to say to help the country move forward from our moment of turmoil and decision-making as a nation.
This brings us to the biggest issue right now which the question on how to find real solutions not just for the youth protesting the injustice and unfairness in the country but for all Kenyans and for the nation and its people.
One option is do nothing and just wait for the demos to fade out. That is a loser’s paradise under the realities that the country faces today.
If the country’s leadership and politicians choose to do nothing the Gen Z will do something that will just paralyze the country and the fact that they will not stop their actions as the government tries to stare them down means the country will become increasingly ungovernable.
President Ruto can unleash all the armed force he wants on Gen Z and Kenyans in general but it will not help and in fact, will sink him further down his political hole of choice which is oppressive politics.
The political rebellion happening in Kenya today is not a joke and it is party politics where you buy a few leaders here and things are back to your normal.
Governors to feel heat of demos as Gen Zs demand good governance
Mombasa residents participate in anti-government protests.
Gen Z anti-government protesters are set to move to the counties to demand accountability for taxpayers’ money.
From the Coast to western Kenya, the protesters will occupy several county headquarters to push for good governance.
According to social media posts and posters seen by The Standard on Monday, Gen Zs have given indications to occupy Kwale, Kilifi, and Mombasa county headquarters in the Coast region.
Sadly enough there are a lot of Kenyan opposition politicians and not William Ruto and his cronies who are urging the do-nothing strategy to dismantle the Gen Z revolution. The do-thing policy from the public opposition sector is a little trickier than Ruto and his KK regime.
The opposition leaders asking for a do nothing approach are a little more subtle. They say the Gen Z are speaking for themselves and opposition politicians like Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka, Martha Karua, and others need to keep out of everything about the Gen Z revolution.
I have said it before and I say it again. That kind of approach is a defeatist plan for the Gen Z protestors and actually it is for very selfish reasons by those politicians who feel they are being overshadowed by the new emerging trends in Kenya politics when other opposition leaders are ready to work things out with Ruto to achieve what Gen Z are fighting for.
The most dangerous thing about opposition leaders who claim to support the Gen Z fights for justice for the country now is that they are doing the exact thing William Ruto wants to do which is to pretend that he understands the concerns, but would prefer that nothing concrete is done to address those issues in the hope that in a few months, the Gen Z trauma he has faced for justice for Kenyans from the rulers of the country will fade and it is back to normal.
For example, William Ruto fired his cabinet to show that he accepted the Gen Z demands to fight incompetency and corruption in Kenya.
Mudavadi spared as Ruto fires all cabinet secretaries
Firing the cabinet is not enough because William Ruto can go out tomorrow and fire new corrupt and incompetent cabinet and include of the same from the opposition.
The issue the Gen Z fighters are standing out firmly for would be achieved President Ruto is forced to accept that all the Cabinet Secretaries from his cabinet a few days be subjected to an immediate financial audit of the assets they have acquired during their time as CS for Kenya.
Some of Ruto’s CSs are known to have acquired assets and buildings worth billions of Kenya shillings in just two years in office.
That audit needs to be done before the next cabinet is appointed because otherwise, Ruto will just appoint another bunch of the same cabinet. This is the kind of action that cannot be achieved by opposition leaders folding their hands and doing nothing. It can and will be achieved by opposition leaders talking to William Ruto and forcing him to agree on all those audits now or else. That is politics in the real world.
The other financial audit the Gen Z activists want and they have made it very clear in the presentations even today before the July 16 action is that they want accountability at the County level. The Gen Z are descending on many governors headquarters because they know that is where a good chunk of public money intended to bring development and opportunities to all Kenyans is swallowed by corrupt and thieving governors.
The Gen Z are begging Kenyan politicians to come up with a plan to audit all county governments. Again if opposition leaders stand back and hold their hands on the do-nothing mode, William Ruto will be happy to save the stealing governors.
If the opposition sits down with Ruto and agree that all 47 counties be audited to make them efficient and stop the theft of public funds that is how Gen Z goals of ending corruption will be achieved. The same applies to auditing all NG CDF money which MPs just grab to buy big cars and helicopters.
Let President Ruto and the opposition agree that all NG CDF will be audited right now. Because this is what President Ruto himself said just two months ago.
MPs who steal NG-CDF money should not be re-elected – RUTO tells Kenyan voters
Saturday, May 4, 2024 – President William Ruto has urged Kenyan voters not to re-elect a Member of Parliament who has misappropriated the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF).
Speaking during the 20th anniversary of NG-CDF at a Nairobi hotel on Friday, Ruto said Members of Parliament who preside over its theft should never be elected.
“I want to say this, without fear of any contradiction: any Member of Parliament who presides over the misappropriation of CDF or the theft of CDF should never be elected.
“They should never be elected because it is the ultimate betrayal of the people who elected you,” Ruto said.
He also took a jibe at MPs who fail to secure re-election despite the fact that they preside over millions of shillings during their parliamentary tenure.
“If you use CDF perfectly, you will be elected. Just that. Because CDF puts at your disposal close to Ksh600 million in your term of five years.
“My friends, with Ksh600m, if you cannot win an election, then you have… I mean… wewe ni bure kabisa.
“I mean surely, Eti mtu ametoka uko, amefanya ukarabati mpaka amekufukaza na umekuwa na Ksh600 million.
“Unaenda hapa unatangaza shule, unaenda hapa unatangaza halafu unashindwa?” he quipped.
Those are media reports that even President William Ruto cannot deny. Ruto as every other Kenyan knows that the NG CDF is a den of corruption. We can talk about that later as a country but for now can we just get every one of them audited and solutions found?
The other the Gen Z are asking for and indicating in practice is that they are a big and crucial part of Kenya politics. If the opposition leaders can talk to Ruto and force him to accept that the ID cards issuing and voter registration be started immediately and goes on for the till December 2024 that would be a big victory not just for Gen Z but for the whole country.
If we do that, Kenya will be telling the young ones 90% of whom don’t have voting cards even though they are eligible for voting cards that they need to go out there and get voting cards.
That means they can run for political offices and also vote for whoever they think represents their values, objectives and hopes for their country in the next General Election. That would be a transformative victory for the youth of Kenya. Keep it going for the country please Gen Z. And at the next polls.
“Bring It On” for the majority of our population today, the Kenyan youth and they are so positive. We as a country must jump on that for our future. That cannot be achieved by an opposition that is on a do-nothing mission. Action time is now for the main demands of the Gen Z patriots helping our country to survive for everybody and for the nation.
Adongo Ogony is a Human Rights Activist and a Writer who lives in Toronto, Canada
