It is a truism that is widely recognised that the past lays the groundwork for what is to come next and readies us for the future. That is what American and French revolutions did and still do. We draw inspiration and lessons from past events in American and France to evaluate our statuses as a people and take action as mankind.

Sometimes, though, one gets the impression that Kenya is the still point of a turning wheel. Or the political tribe is impervious to its surroundings.

American Revolution happened between 1765 and 1783 and was spearheaded by the likes of 29-year old Patrick Henry – an age when most of us are still in the formative years of life and careers. The patriots were driven by a simple but radical lesson in life: give me liberty or give me death as was posited by Samuel Adam, then 52-years old.

The Gen-Zs (or Generation) are in the formative years of their life or careers and are reliving this Samuel Adam moment.

The genesis of events in America and France then, which have remained consequential to how we consume and practise politics, have bearing on the introduction of taxes by the British Empire at the time. The so-called Grenville ministry under the British Prime Minister Charles Grenville introduced Stamp Act in 1765, which required colonies to pay taxes on all printed materials such as newspapers, pamphlets and other documents. The move and tax decisions by the colonial government elicited stiff resistance that was met with oppressive implementation of the edicts of the British Empire. The brute force by the British Empire had seminal effect on the politics of the day as ordinary people demanded to have a say in decision-making. Call it democracy. Or no taxation without representation.

The germ for constitutional democracy had been born and was evolving rapidly as the absolute power of the monarchy receded. This rapid change is evolution. The revolution inspired other colonies to fight off the British Empire and gain autonomy and the right to decide their destiny.

In a word, the seeds of the American Revolution had a germinal effect on the future of the British Empire that prided itself as the land “Where the sun never sets.”

At some point, the sun had to set! And for sure, it will set in Kenya to at some point when the curtains of tyranny will be drawn.

The French Revolution of 1789-1799 was caused by the excesses of Marie Antoinette, Marquis de Lafayet and Napoleon Bonaparte, among others. Their world was inconsonance with the realities of the serfs. The dominant theme in this historic event was the excesses of the monarchy or the nobility who sucked the blood of the serfs to the bone. The specific cause of the revolution is academic and historians are still divided on whether there was a single event touched off the spontaneity that ensued. However, corrupt courts that sanctioned the luxurious lifestyle of the monarchies against the burden of the heavy debts borne by the governed pushed them over the edge.

Ideally, the judiciary exists to check the executive and the legislature and vice versa. In France and America, the three arms of government connived to squeeze the juice out of taxpayer. History therefore teaches us that taxes are tinderbox.

Against the backdrop of the Gen-Z (youth) protests in Kenya, one further lesson is drawn: the moral imperviousness of the political tribe and governing elite knows no limits. In the Kenyan we can plausibly say: History teaches us that we never learn from history. President William Ruto and his acolytes seem to have erased from their memory events of 2007 that brought Kenya on the precipice of anarchy.

In France, ordinary people took matters in their hands to fight for access to affordable food and other basic needs that they had been deprived of by the monarchy. The food shortage crisis was exacerbated by poor harvest, sky-high poverty, massive unemployment and burdensome tax regimen. However, the revolution was not a shoo-in. There were phases in the evolving events between September 1793 and July 1794 that have been dubbed the “reign of terror.” Anarchy reigned and many lives were lost. It is happening in Kenya.

Kenyans had a taste of the reign of terror on June 25 last year when Gen-Zs forced their way into Parliament Buildings in Nairobi and confronted their conniving legislators with a demand to dump a proposed punitive finance law that had a string of tax recommendations that would have had an adverse effect on the cost of living. Compared to the French Revolution and American Revolutions, the events at Parliament Buildings in Kenya were just blip. But the message was driven home: there is a limit to how long and far the governed can tolerate bad governance. You either die or accept to acquiesce in suffering to your grave. Gen-Zs elected the former and many of them were felled by what they perceived as the butchers gunshots. The stress were full of blood. The spirit, though, was not felled, just as was the case in the germinal revolutions in the far-away lands.

Now, let’s bring it closer home. The Gen-Z crusaders of economic and civil liberties did not enjoy free school milk – Maziwa ya Nyayo – like their predecessors, but they were lucky to go to school during President Mwai Kibaki`s reign. Kibaki made education free and a basic right, and stabilised the economy. The Kenyan taxpayer financed the national budget and limited the leash foreign loans to less than five per cent.

School was not a walk in the park because of free education. We were made to work harder for the right to opportunities and for own self-growth and worth. This is just one of the many fruits of prudent utilisation of taxpayers’ money. And this is where the Gen-Zs draw inspiration from because they have a reference they can cite to challenge the excesses of the Ruto administration.

The counsel of my former school deputy principle, Mr. Mayabi, still rings a bell: Time has the power to turn coal into shinny diamonds. In the shackles of poverty, he would say with a wry smile, dreams are buried beneath the soil. But education – in this case knowledge – lifts the crestfallen and inspires them to greater heights. Yes, the flesh may be worn out but the spirit can still perform the magic if one is equipped with a good education.

The ideals had become a kind of refrain of our tutor’s lifestyle as it mirrored his philosophy of life. Education is a liberator and Kibaki knew it and lived it. He served it generously.

Five years down the line, an event so traumatising to Kenyan happened. Ethnic hostilities and violence ‘blossomed’ and set the county on fire as communities slaughtered each other because of the disputed 2007 elections. The psychological, emotional and physical scars are still evident in the manner that we interact. To be a brother’s keeper as the Good Book teaches us is an alien concept as Kenyans have retreated into their ethnic cocoons as regionalism replaced patriotism.

To remember how innocent people were slaughtered in Kiambaa Church and their bodies charred in Rift Valley evokes bitter memories of what raw politics can do to a nation. The bloodbath should have been a chapter in Kenya’s history on “How not to do politics” or “What happens when a nation cannot reason together.” Instead, we have embellished ethnicity with mediocrity and it is killing the country. The president and his court poets relish it.

To Gen-Zs, Kenya exists in name only. The country lacks a common thread to rally it to a common cause without caring a hoot about genealogy, region, and economic, social and political status.

We have ingratiated ourselves in what founding president Julius Nyerere called Kenya: A man eat man society.

Kenya’s top leadership seems to be proud of the reference. The Gen-Z, who took to the streets last year as Tribe Kenya are embarrassed of the monicker, which is why they are still restless until they right the wrongs, stop disappearances, end abductions and bring the powers that be to account.

It is only after this that we will rejoice that history teachers the past, steadies the current and prepares us for the future.

• A Tell / KNA report / By Victor Ngugi