Kenya is going to hold its General election in about three weeks. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has been working round the clock to deliver credible elections. Following the voter register clean-up exercise and subsequent audit by KPMG, it emerges that Kenya will have 22.1 M voters in 2022, an increase of 12.5% from 19.6M voters in 2017.
However, despite the burgeoning youth population in the country, only 8M youth are registered voters in this coming election. These statistics coupled with low voter registration turnout in February, have sent a mixed signal to different quarters. Political bandits have cited several reasons for the likely apathy and reluctance among the youth constituent in the coming general election. The soaring unemployment rates among have left majority of them feeling abandoned by the political class and the political processes. To them, they hold a valid reason that the solution is not on the ballot since leaders and past regimes have been elected on the basis of creating employment and have failed to fulfil them once in office.
Kenya is among the first countries in Africa to officially have a recognized youth council whose core function is to advise the government in all matters of youth. In terms of policy, Kenya leads the region with proactive youth policies in place that include the Kenya Youth Development Policy 2019. In theory, Kenya is making efforts in addressing the youth's misfortunes however the majority of young people feel left out. Since the advent of multiparty democracy, political parties and presidential candidates have been outdoing each other in pompously unveiling the Youth Manifestos. This is not the first election promises and commitments have been made to the young voters.
In 2013, the Jubilee Government promised to create 1.3Million jobs annually for the young population. To date, it remains the biggest joke that we took seriously in Kenyan history of false promises. The Kenya Youth Empowerment and Opportunities project, Kazi Kwa Vijana, Uwezo Fund, Women Enterprise Fund, National Youth Service, Youth Enterprise Development Fund and Kazi Mtaani to mention a few programmes have been put in place to address youth unemployment but have not had a substantial impact among the young population. Instead, the gains have been overshadowed by rampant corruption perpetrated by government officials dashing the hopes of the young entrepreneurs.
In addition, unfriendly taxation regimes put forward by the government have served to stifle SMEs out of business rendering millions of youthful entrepreneurs out jobless. Youths have remained largely bystanders in the political processes. For instance, leading political parties have confined the youth voices to the peripheries in decision-making. Youth leagues seldom get their voices heard, they rarely find their inputs considered on the decision table. Parties should conduct their affairs in a manner that will value the efforts of the young people. It remains to be seen even in this election, where IEBC, rejected all the nomination lists for failing to meet the interests of special groups such as Youth and Persons Living with Disabilities (PWDs).
Deliberate efforts should be put in place by all stakeholders; media, political parties, elected leaders and the IEBC to reassure the disenfranchised young people that it is on the ballot that they can silence the voices of false promises. Otherwise, the apathy by the young population is a protest against the inaction, ineptness and pathological lying by the political class.
https://nation.africa/kenya/blogs-opinion/blogs/voter-apathy-is-a-protest-3883066