Prime
‘Woke’ Gen Z a constant irritant to Museveni, Ruto and Samia

Police officers arrest activists outside Uganda’s Parliament on September 02, 2024 as they protested the continued corruption and inadequate support for the victims of the August 10 Kiteezi landfill collapse that left 35 bodies recovered and scores missing. PHOTO/ ISAAC KASAMANI
What you need to know:
- Museveni has a dedicated team on his social media handle X, where he communicates with over 3.5 million followers, who he fondly refers to as Bazukkulu (grandchildren).
From Nairobi to Kampala to Dodoma, the administrations are dealing with a “woke” generation that demands high standards of governance, zero tolerance to corruption, and creation of employment by reinvigorating the economies. Failure to this, they are bent on making government’s work really hard.
This has been evident in street protests, petitions, lobbying, disobedience.
The Kenyan government has found itself on the defensive accusing the online brigade of "organised cyber-attacks by a few social media influencers seeking to delegitimise state initiatives".
In a statement on Thursday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the netizens' move as cyber-bullying aimed at discrediting the government.
According to the ministry, the crude cyber activities began in the wake of the Gen Z protests in June 2024.
The ministry noted with concern that some Kenyans have taken to expressing their dissenting views by writing to members of the international community, delegitimising the government and its policies.
“The Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs expresses concern over recent cyber activities spreading misinformation and disinformation aimed at undermining the credibility of the Government. These activities, initially sparked by genuine protests by “Gen Zs,” have evolved into organised cyber-attacks by a few social media influencers and seek to delegitimize government initiatives, discourage high-level visits, de-campaign Kenya’s candidates for international and regional positions, while sending intimidatory messages to members of the international community,” the statement said.
The ministry noted that the cyber activity, most of which consists of “Al-generated deepfakes, fabricated narratives, widespread misinformation campaigns and coordinated auto-generated e-mails” sent to foreign capitals.
The foreign ministry at the same time also assured its international partners that efforts are underway to address the challenges posed by social media, including the development of a Technology Responsibility Charter aimed at promoting accountability and ethical practices in the digital space.
On Thursday, the Interior Ministry ordered all social media companies operating in Kenya to open physical offices in the country.
In a statement, the ministry said the move would ensure responsibility and accountability in the face of rising disinformation, social media manipulation and online abuse.
Kenyans have mobilised votes on Change.org to block a scheduled visit from by the Dutch royals and sent e-mails to the International Criminal Court urging the revival of cases against prominent Kenyan political figures.
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands plan to visit Kenya from March 18-20 on the invitation of President William Ruto.
On Tuesday night, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said the trip would be important to discuss a wide range of issues including human rights.
Kenyans have opposed the visit, citing concerns about the current state of affairs in the country, including human rights abuses such as enforced disappearances of government critics and opposition figures from neighbouring countries.
An online petition calling for the cancellation of the state visit to Kenya has gathered more than 10,000 signatures since its launch on, January 15.
Additionally, an online campaign aimed at discrediting Raila Odinga’s candidacy for the African Union chair has also been flagged.
The Gen Z are now a force to reckon with, by their sheer numbers and the next elections will perhaps be decided by their vote. Born between 1997 and 2012, the oldest of the Generation Z most probably voted for the first time in Kenya in the 2017 elections, after attaining the mandatory voting age of 18 years.
Growing disenchanted by continued economic hardship and widespread corruption despite the lofty promises by the Kenya Kwanza administration in the run-up to the elections, the President Ruto-led regime’s honeymoon did not last long.
The first year of President Ruto’s leadership did not have much turbulence save for opposition protests smarting from a slim defeat in the presidential contest as they challenged the legitimacy of the president.
But murmurs of discontent started building up with the first Finance Bill, 2023 failing to live up to most promises made by the administration during the campaigns.
President Ruto rode to power by appealing to the common mwananchi, describing himself as a “hustler” riding on his rags-to-riches journey.
Nevertheless, Dr Ruto’s promise to create jobs for the largely unemployed youth turned into a crisis of more taxation and jobs to old cronies and election-losers.
The administration’s first finance bill, Finance Bill 2023, introduced a number of unpopular taxes featuring a tax on salaries for housing.
However, the government did not listen and continued to push through other unpopular measures. Known for only being vocal on social media, the youth’s voice crystalised into street action.
The last straw that broke the camel's back was the withdrawn Finance Bill, 2024 which proposed several controversial taxes, including on sanitary towels, digital content, car ownership, and basics like cooking oil and bread.
Amid public outcry and the government doing little to appease the masses, a revolt began in June at the height of conversation over the Bill.
What began as a pushback to reject the Bill expanded into a larger movement demanding better governance and radical change in the country, changing the country’s political landscape.
Fashioning themselves as “leaderless, partyless and tribeless” the youthful protesters took to the streets in an unprecedented fury culminating in storming Parliament Buildings on June 25, 2024.
The unconventional demonstrations in Nairobi, soon spread like wildfire to other towns across the country under the rallying cries of “Occupy Parliament” and “Reject Finance Bill”.
Over time, the demands evolved to concerns over what they termed unbearable taxes, ostentatious opulence of State officers and persistent poor governance and corruption.
Not even President Ruto’s climbdown on key issues could persuade them otherwise. The Gen Z coordinated their activities online, especially WhatsApp groups, before releasing their programme of action on X, Instagram and other platforms.
According to political commentator Javas Bigambo, the organic dissatisfaction by the youth should sound a warning to the political class, especially the current government, with President Ruto seeming to continue with the taxation spree.
“The youth are consciously coming alive to the fact that their votes matter and that if they come out their voices will be heard and the interests registered,” Mr Bigambo said.
“Between now and the next elections, we could have two million or more who are going to be voters in 2027, with a majority being the youth or what we call the Gen Z. They could now have a reason to vote against the government or for someone else,” he said.
In Uganda, as the country prepares for the general election expected in January 2026, the politicians are back to the drawing board to capture the youth vote.
According to the recently released population census results, the median age is 16, and young people between the ages of 18 and 30 constitute 23 percent.
The questions facing politicians include unemployment, lack of opportunities, amid corruption and embezzlement of public funds by government officials.
In the 2021 elections, young people aged between 18 and 30 made up 41 percent of the total voter roll of 18 million. The youth make up nearly half of all registered voters with about 6.4 million young voters under 30 years of age.
The outcome of the 2021 elections and the emergence of Robert Kyagulanyi, aged about 39 then, sent shockwaves among the political elite.
In what was termed as the youth wave, under the banner of People Power, Kyagulanyi and his newly formed political party, National Unity Platform, swept most of the constituencies in central and eastern Uganda, bringing in younger people into the political positions at local level and Parliament.
The young people took 80 percent of elective positions across the 24 districts of central Uganda, defeating some of the regime’s top ministers and Museveni confidants.
Kyagulanyi, at 43, who has indicated he will contest again in the forthcoming elections, against Museveni, 81.
The young people in Uganda feel left out in decision-making. With the commercialisation of politics, it is not easy for the youth, who are struggling to make a future out of their lives, to engage in politics.
The older people have the money or are part of Museveni’s inner circle which has been operating for the past 40 years, with access to resources, employment, procurement deals, and government incentives for businesses.
In the protest against corruption in Parliament, the youth used social media to mobilise and the turnout was big. Under the hashtag #March2Parliament, demonstrators wanted the Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, and four members of parliament to resign after sharing an award of over $460,000.
“I see today as being the starting shot in what is likely to be a longer struggle with concerns of the youth and their determination to change the political systems in which they find themselves,” said an activist Busingye Kabumba.
But President Museveni issued a warning telling the youth they were playing with fire by marching on Parliament.
“You don’t have to go on the streets and riot; you fight corruption by following up on government money and knowing how it’s being spent. Know the figures, and in case there’s some misappropriation, write and report to the RDC,” he stated.
Nobody takes Museveni’s threats for a joke. His government has crushed opposition and protests before, using the military before. 2026 masy not be different.
In Tanzania, compared with elsewhere in the region, youth “wokeness” is lower, thanks to “rigid” social and family structures rooted in the community socialism (Ujamaa) ideology of founding president Julius Nyerere.
However, there have been definite signs of a surge in political awareness as the youth, who make up over a third of Tanzania’s current population, continue to grapple with growing socioeconomic hardships and high unemployment rates.
Youth activists voicing opinions that are deemed to be anti-establishment were among the main targets of a series of politically linked abductions across the country during 2024.
Some have disappeared altogether while others narrated tales of enduring torture at the hands of the police for days before being dumped in remote areas.
In August, law enforcement officers used brute force to prevent a scheduled International Youth Day rally organised by the main opposition party Chadema in the southern city of Mbeya from going ahead, arresting more than 500 of the party’s youth supporters along with their leaders in the process.
The official explanation for the crackdown was that the assembly would trigger anti-government protests along the lines of the Gen Z youth movement in Kenya.
In a statement, the political parties registrar’s office said Chadema youth leaders had been advertising the rally as an opportunity “to show that they are as serious as their Kenyan counterparts in carving a new destiny for the country and doing away with state control.”
“Such incendiary statements indicate a clear intention to incite people and create chaos under the umbrella of celebrating youth day, and as such the event is illegal under Tanzanian law and cannot be allowed to proceed,” the registrar’s office said.
President Yoweri Museveni has shown a great level of understanding of youth dynamics. In 2001, realising the growing influence of the youth motorcycle taxi riders, he travelled on boda boda for his nomination at Kaololo Airstrip in Kampala.
In 2011, Museveni released a song to appeal to the majority youth voting bloc. The song and its video became popular on the internet, getting thousands of YouTube views.
In 2015, as he canvassed votes, he gathered musicians in a collabo song Tubonga nawe (loosely translated We Identify with You).
Museveni has a dedicated team on his social media handle X, where he communicates with over 3.5 million followers, who he fondly refers to as Bazukkulu (grandchildren).
Despite being active on social media, his government has banned shut down social media in the previous elections, introduced a prohibitive social media tax (which was later removed), has tried to introduce a harsh law through Parliament, and has harassed social media activists, some of them jailed.
With growing youth discontent, there is likely to be more mobilisation efforts on social media or other avenues by political and non-political actors to influence the youth vote.
The overall idea is that the youth have identified their role in the political play, while the politicians have identified a great resource and potential threat. They will fear and value them in equal measure. The establishment will try to silence them, but it may not be that easy.