Generation Z give their take on why they are participating in the protest against the Finance Bill 2024.
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00:00Girl, they're taxing pads. Pads broke. I had to be there.
00:05Listen to your people. Kindly just lend us an ear. You listen to us.
00:10We're not lazy. We're just doing things differently.
00:13I think this generation of Gen Z in politics is going to be so much more influential and progressive.
00:21My name is Nyawongo Ward. I'm a representative and currently acting as an ambassador of Lighthouse
00:27Club, which is the biggest social enterprise platform in Kenya.
00:32My name is Anini and I'm a content creator, I'm a TikToker, I'm all that.
00:36Yeah, and I'm on your screen now, girl.
00:38My question is, what prompted you to be in the protest?
00:42Girl, they're taxing pads. Pads broke. I had to be there.
00:48I think as a young woman and part of our community as Lighthouse Club, for example,
00:53our campaign for CSR this month is a pad drive because period poverty is a huge issue in Kenya.
00:58That's getting young girls pregnant, out of school, raped, you know, and then we're taxing them.
01:04That's crazy. So I think just as a young woman, my fear for the future
01:08and other young people was what brought me outside.
01:12Also, why are they saying they have 800 million confidential?
01:17That's why I'm here. That's why we're protesting.
01:23Like, be so for real, like, just be considerate of your people.
01:30If we're not heard, I will pull up again and again and again and again.
01:40I think one thing you need to understand and a lot of people need to remember is the police
01:44are supposed to be it. I don't use the words under us, but they are serviced to serve.
01:49They are people that serve us and protect us.
01:52And I know it's not reality. The reality is that they're not serving us,
01:56but we should not be in fear of our police.
02:07So like, you know, it can be vigorous.
02:10And we'll go even the injured race. Maybe we can get injured during the protest.
02:14That's why we have the hospitals before we can, like, we are going to the hospitals right now
02:18when we can afford them.
02:35They were sorted. Like, girl, please pull up.
02:38Maybe on my end, I was scared. I mean, realistically, we've been seeing
02:42mandamano since 2022, the last election. Obviously, it's scary.
02:46But what's scary is the uncertainty. You know what I mean?
02:48I would rather fight for what I know is right, scared, than be scared of our future.
02:54I don't know, because ultimately, the core issue is at the end of the day,
02:57young people are scared because they don't know what's ahead.
03:00You know what I mean? So I'd rather have today's fear than a lifetime of fear.
03:08Out of 10, minus nothing.
03:12Like, everyone pulled up. Like, I just made a random video on TikTok,
03:16and I was like, please pull up, please pull up.
03:17Boniface, they made the posters. Wagwa Nairobi made the posters as well for the youth.
03:22We pulled up. We did an amazing job.
03:2712 p.m. Jabba Lament, once again.
03:29Minyebunge.
03:59How do you see the future of Gen Z's in politics?
04:20I think it'd be very interesting. There's a big misconception about Gen Z,
04:23and I take it upon myself, both as an advocate for the youth and as a young person myself,
04:29to dispel this mentality that we are lazy.
04:31I think we've learned how to do things in a far more efficient way,
04:34because at the end of the day, we are a generation that does what we need to do
04:38in the time we need to do it.
04:39And Gen Z also, I think we've been taught to think that we'll be the worst politicians.
04:45But the core difference I see with our politics and the politics of our parents' generation,
04:49unfortunately, to say, my aunties and uncles still believe in a tribe.
04:54I don't know your tribe. I don't know your tribe.
04:55And honestly, I don't care. We are humans. We are one.
04:58We are Kenyans, and we are all being taxed to death.
05:01So I think this generation of Gen Z in politics is going to be so much more influential and
05:05progressive.
05:07What do you want the government to do for the Gen Z's?
05:12Personally, kindly just lend us an ear. You listen to us.
05:17Because as you said, there's a misconception of us being lazy.
05:20We're not lazy. We're just doing things differently.
05:28We found a better way to go about things, and we're just doing that on our Twitter lazy.
05:34How do you feel being honoured by Rayla?
05:38Girl, I was so happy.
05:40I was in an Uber coming back home from the protest, and I saw it, and I went feral.
05:45Like, my dad was calling me left, right, and centre.
05:47He was like, girl, your Rayla's rich, and I was like, what?
05:51Oh, God.
05:54I'm not on Twitter, but I saw it, and I'm so proud of myself.
05:57Thank you so much, Baba, for seeing me.
06:01In future, would you like to be a politician?
06:03Yes.
06:11I don't think it's in my cards right now.
06:14I always say the future is unexpected.
06:17As of now, for me, it's not in my cards to be a politician.
06:19But I do believe I do not need to be a politician to be heard and to make a difference.
06:24And politics in Kenya is often a business.
06:28The mindset that I've grown up with, unfortunately,
06:30is you get into the government and your values get swayed.
06:34And I don't want that path for me.
06:35I believe that the values I have and the integrity I have, I can continue to purport them,
06:40even if I'm not in an assigned position of power, even if I claim that power for myself.