To the Gen Z mother: Did you want your child to become a martyr in a headless revolution or a leader in a structured democracy?

Experience is the best teacher and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga bore it all. in the uprising, Raila chose the life of the child over ‘likes’ on social media – X, Facbook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.

In the wake of the June 24, 2024, Generation Zee (Gen Z) protests or youth uprising in Kenya, a narrative emerged that former Prime Minister Raila Odinga betrayed the cause of the youth to hold their government to account. The uninitiated public wanted the youths to match to State House and evict President William Ruto. It sounded like a walk in the park. Quite fanciful.

But let us pause for a moment for pragmatism to take effect. The narrative that Raila Odinga ‘sold out’ the Gen Z movement is hollow and an outright roadside audit. It fails to take into account the forensic pattern that has destroyed many nations in Africa – for example from Tunisia to Libya, Algeria, Egypt to Syria during the Arab Spring.

In these countries, the youth had the intent (to remove a dictator or dictators), but they lacked the process to manage the vacuum that ensued. Almost 20 years down the line, the vacuums the wave of youth protests created have not be adequately filled. Instead, the vacuums were occupied by deadlier tyrants. The monsters just swapped roles; impunity did not evaporate.

With the benefit of hindsight, I can state unequivocally that saving the Maragas and Railas of tomorrow proved that Kenya’s greatest asset isn’t our minerals; it’s our intelligent, high-potential youth. When the streets became a sea of blood, Raila saw the risk of losing an entire generation of future chief justices (like David Maraga) and future (political and metaphorical) engineers like himself.

He intervened to ensure that the Railas of tomorrow can sit in lecture halls and boardrooms to prepare to defend the rights of fellow Kenyans when needed instead of lying in morgues wrapped in a Kenyan flag. A flag sent to a grieving mother is not victory; it is an administrative failure.

More importantly, intent is not a process. The Gen Z movement had the right intent: transparency, dignity and an end to corruption and social injustice. But intent without a political structure is like a high-performance engine with no steering wheel.

A fitting example of what would have befallen the Kenyan Gen Z played out in Tanzania during the October 29, 2025, presidential election. More than 3,000 Tanzanian youths that were agitating for regime change, democratic space, sanctity of life, social justice and freedom of expression, were mowed down by the country’s military and trigger-happy police. There is proof 3,000 youths were buried in mass graves near military facilities to keep prying eyes at a distance. The Tanzanian revolution was structurally defective, which is what Raila’s move averted. Intent is managed. It is channelled.

Then there is the geopolitics allure. Let us simply call it trickery. The Global West thrives on creating chaos to topple leaders, only to leave the country in a “headless” state with a leadership they can then manipulate. Recent example are many. After Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Muammar Gadhafi of Libya were neutralised by the Global West, the two countries have remained in state of flux ideologically, militarily and politically nearly three decades on. There is no sign they will stabilise any time soon.

Against this backdrop, Raila realised that if the Gen Z movement continued without structured dialogue, it would lead to a “burn it all down” cliff. He moved the energy from the streets (the intent) to the table (the process).

An audit of the parents is puzzling. Before anyone calls Raila a ‘traitor,’ I have one question: Where was your school-going child during the heat of the protests?  Were they on the frontlines with your permission? Or were you cheering from your keyboard while someone else’s child faced the live bullets? Remember, more than 61 one youths (by Kenya National Commission on Human Rights account) have not been accounted for by the state to date There have been even unqualified allegations that some of missing youths may have been buried in parliamentary premises to cover up the crime. Kenyans know these allegations from an investigative report by BBC. It could have been worse.

Thus, Raila supported the movement with water and legal aid at first but when he saw the “forensic signal” of a country about to burn, he used alternative statecraft to de-escalate.

The lesson: You cannot build a new house while you are still setting the foundation on fire. Raila chose to save the architecture of the state (the 2010 Constitution) so that the Gen Z of today can become the leaders of 2027. Dignity is knowing when to march and integrity is knowing when to negotiate.

• A Tell Media report / By Faith Mirunde Hakala –