Cloudy With A Chance Of Sinus Overload: Gen Z Maandamano Enters Mother Of All

Fear overhangs Nairobi and other major towns on June 20, 2024, as Gen Z protests enter ‘event 2’ with promises of bigger and better following Tuesday’s debut march.

Following the arbitrary arrests of key activists such as Boniface Mwangi and Njeri wa Migwi, the online agony rooting from police brutality has only exacerbated.

“We were arrested, 400 of us,” Boniface mwangi said on a panel at Citizen TV, hours after being released from Kamukunji.

Demonstrations labelled ‘occupy Mombasa’ took place as planned on June 19, with protesters battling the rains to pass their message.

The movement called ‘occupy’ started from the occupy parliament call by activist Boniface mwangi. With mobilisation taking place online, several demonstrations are expected in different towns across the country including a re-match at Parliament buildings on June 20.

Speaking on the state of the protests, activist Wanjira Wanjiru said that when Gen Z’s say they need better, it’s the realisation of article 43 of the constitution that they want to see.

Boniface Mwangi, speaking on the state of the online protests, said that since corrupt leaders are not in jail as they should be, Gen Z has sent them to social jail by exposing their private information online.

“We know where your kids go to school, we know what you buy when you steal from us, we know your health status, who you are sleeping with and it’s a fair game. We shall shame you to a point you resign and become a private citizen,” he said.

But what are Gen Z protesting against? Speaking on the same panel at Citizen TV, Embakasi East MP Babu Owino clarified the difference between the Finance bill and the Budget.

“You are not protesting against the budget, you are protesting against the finance bill. That is the problem, that is the elephant in the room. How the budget is going to be funded, is what is in the finance bill,” he said.

While answering the question on why and how Tuesday’s protests were different from previous one’s, activist Wanjira Wanjiru stated that the organic mobilisation is what made the event unique.

“The demonstrations were different as there was no particular leader, they were organic in terms of mobilisation. Influencers on tiktok, young people speaking to each other like yeah, people we need to turn up, this is about our lives, this is about our future. And that should tell us something that people are taking back their own agency to realise better realities, material conditions and futures for themselves and their children," she said.

She celebrated the fact that there was no particular leader to be called for negotiations or a handshake, the protests would only end when the issues raised by protesters were addressed.

“We have said we do not want this Finance Bill or it’s ammendmets, we can’t afford more tax, we want the bill completely taken off the table,” she added.

Pointing to the future, she stated that the next step should be consolidating a millenial-GenZ political base, kicking out all enemies of the people and bringing in Gen Z leaders.

Senior counsel Paul Mwangi when asked about the sustainability of the Gen Z protests, said that since the generation does not fear anyone, not Ruto or Gachagua, the protests would be sustainable.

He added that politicians whose data has been exposed have no grounds to sue as they are public figures

“We are ready to support this generation,” he said.