For Kenya’s survival, the old guard must hang their boots
From left: ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna, Interior PS Raymond Omollo, Embakasi East MP Babu Owino and Winnie Odinga.
The simmering intergenerational spat in the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) between the likes of Winnie Odinga and Edwin Sifuna and the party’s old guard is a small but telling window into a much bigger national problem — a country where the young keep knocking and the old keep holding the keys.
What began as quiet tension over succession and party direction following the death of its founder, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, has gradually turned into open frustration, especially among the younger politicians who feel the party has become too comfortable with recycled leadership that mainly comprises the old guard.
The quarrel, though internal, speaks to something deeper which the whole country has been wrestling with — a political culture where an ageing class refuses to loosen its grip even as the nation grows younger and more impatient. This is the same undercurrent that burst onto the streets during the Gen Z protests of 2024 and 2025.
Those protests were not just about taxes or bad policy decisions; they were a mass outcry against a political order that keeps telling the youth to wait for a future that never comes.
The 2019 Census already showed a youthful country —75 per cent of the population is under 35 — yet the top layers of political power and job opportunities are almost entirely occupied by the old guard. Youth representation in Parliament, national party organs and senior jobs is painfully low and power is apparently reserved for the older political class.
Older generation
This should not be misunderstood as an effort to discriminate against the older generation. Rather, it's an effort at restoring sanity to a generation that has forgotten to pass the baton. Kenya is a youthful country running on an ageing political engine.
The youth are trapped by high unemployment and under-employment rates. Many of them survive through informal and unstable jobs, while the formal economy remains controlled by the older generation and the well-connected.
Now, when political parties mirror this exclusionist practice by locking the youth out of key leadership positions, it becomes a full circle of frustration. No wonder, every spark, whether inside the ODM or in national protests, lights up the same question — how long can a country ignore its demographic reality before the pressure actually tears the country apart?
President William Ruto is making tangible efforts to create opportunities for the youth; through several interventions, including reserving a certain percentage of government contracts for the youth, creating special funds for the youth and going on a job-hunting spree abroad. However, the youth bulge challenge is much more than what a three-year-old government can contain. It is a fuse that has been quietly burning for decades and is now inching towards the explosion point.
Rising life expectancy, as good as it may sound, means the older generation gets bonus years, stays in office longer, retires later and holds onto influence long after generational transition should naturally occur.
The result is a political system where movement at the top is glacial and at the bottom frantic. Millions of young people enter adulthood each year with new skills and ambitions, but the system is designed around older loyalties and networks.
The urgency now lies squarely with political parties. If they continue behaving as gatekeepers instead of incubators, Kenya will stay stuck in a generational deadlock. They must make deliberate and structural choices that push young people into real competition and not symbolic participation.
Financial barriers
That means lowering the financial barriers that block youthful aspirants, making internal quotas real rather than decorative and opening national party leadership positions to younger members who can carry the party into the current era.
Kenya risks turning its demographic advantage into a demographic curse. The future is knocking loudly, and the old guard has a choice: Open the door willingly or wait for it to be forced open by a youthful generation that has run out of patience.
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Dr Sheikh (PhD), adjunct lecturer at USIU-A, is former Head of BBC Somali Service. [email protected].
