It is a beautiful time to be alive, or is it?!

Sometimes I look at how far we have come as a nation and secretly, I grin. I mean, gone are the days when gerontological leaders could tell the ‘young’ aspiring leaders they will be the leaders of tomorrow. Tomorrow came! Young people are currently the leaders of today. Young people have the power now.

Take a look at the 2017 General Elections statistics. A research by YouthAgenda Vijana shows that in 2017, we had a total of 19.6 million registered voters by the end of February 2017. Out of this number, 50.7% of the registered voters were youth. That is approximately 9.9 million people.

Since time and again, positions of power have always been taken by ‘elders’. But since 2013, the narrative has been changing. At the moment, we have 8 ‘young’ governors, 66 ‘young’ senators, 249 ‘young’ MPs, 40 ‘young’ women representatives, 3693 ‘young’ MCAs which totals up to 4166 youth representatives.

It is high time the youth in Kenya realize and stop saying that they need empowerment. Instead, the narrative should be that they have the power. They are the power. And in that regard, they should make issues on elections, democracy and good governance work for them. This is inclusive of the youth in power, the youth aspiring to be in power and the general youth with the power to make their own decisions.

It only gets better moving forward. I look forward to publicly grinning instead of secretly grinning because I know, trust and believe that the youth of Kenya shall not disappoint. Moving forward and looking at the challenges that we currently face as a country, making informed decisions is the only way to go.

#ACDEG #youthwholead #youthinpolitics #youthandelections #youthanddemocracy #youthandgoodgovernance #informeddecisions #youthinpower #thetimeisnow #tomorrowistoday #wearethepower

Written by; Michelle V. Aluoch