Democracy, if performed correctly, can be a miracle. The operative word is “can” not “is.” That’s why democracy has been an elusive experiment, even in the societies where it’s been practiced the longest.
Democracy, by its normative predicates, allows anyone to demagogue it in pursuit of power. That’s one of democracy’s soft underbellies. It doesn’t really know how to defend itself against those who would destroy it.
That’s how and why Adolf Hitler became the German Chancellor. In Kenya, we have a political elite that will say and do anything to capture state power, even if that which they do, or say, is undemocratic. I bemoan the Opposition’s attempt to exploit protest victims and Gen Z to capture state power. It’s despicable.
June 25 last week was the anniversary of the 2024 anti-finance bill Gen-led protests that unfortunately turned deadly. Though the Gen Z themselves had pure intentions, their ranks were infiltrated by malignant elements bent on violence, pillage, and looting. A proper and peaceful exercise of the expressive rights in Article 37 of the 2010 Constitution turned catastrophic for the country. It was a dark day for Kenya. No one who understands the difficulties of performing democracy can tell you it’s easy. It’s easier said than done.
No country on earth has gone unscathed from the tensions that attend the meeting of the state and the citizen in the performance of the rituals of democracy. But a good state learns from its mistakes and prevents extreme outcomes.
That’s why last year President William Ruto together with Raila Odinga (who later died in October 2025) sanctioned the compensation for victims of protests and riots from 2013-2025. It’s an approach to governance that hasn’t been tried in Kenya before. For the first time in Kenya, President Ruto decided to launch a reparations transitional justice program to give ex-gratia payments to protest victims and their loved ones.
At the same time, he is pursuing accountability and reforms to change the country’s human rights culture. In my view, these two initiatives will be a game changer in how Kenyans relate to their government in times of street protests and dissent. In so doing, President Ruto has vowed “Never Again.” No more, nunca mas.
I have, however, been stupefied by the attempts of the Opposition to dance on the graves of the victims of the protests and their loved ones. The shameless and blatant attempts by the side opposite to ride on and exploit the grief of the protest victims is nothing short of callous.
All the Opposition leaders without exception have openly and without blinking an eye tried to weaponise both the Gen Z and the victims for political gain. Each and every single one of them has blatantly tried to cloak themselves in the garb of the Gen Z to harvest their political capital. Like ticks to a hapless cow, Opposition politicians see no irony or callousness in bathing themselves in the blood of victims. Their crocodile tears are so fake that no acting can hide them.
I was shocked by what I saw on June 25. The Opposition went to fish for the mothers of the victims and marched them to the anniversary. There was no pretense that they were using the grieving mothers as human shields. How do I know this? It was broadcast live on television. In an act of utter hypocrisy and cynicism, the politicians marched hand in hand with the mothers of the victims. Then the moment of truth arrived. As the police appeared on the horizon, the senior politicians took off for their gas guzzlers under the protection of their bodyguards. They did not look back or give a thought to the mothers. Those fleeing appeared to be a former vice president and former chief justice.
I can tell you this – Mr Odinga would never have fled the scene, or left the mothers defenseless. What surprised me most was that the politicians did not wait to discern the intentions of the police, or engage them. I thought it was an act of extreme cowardice. I remember during one Azimio protest as we came out of Serena Hotel we met anti-riot police who had set up a roadblock a few hundred yards away.
We insisted on being allowed to go through. A very tense standoff ensued. Only after ascertaining that the police wouldn’t allow us to pass did we turn back and go to Kibera through another route. No one panicked, or fled in fear.
I was impressed by the Gen Z during this anniversary when they refused to be instrumentalised or weaponised by Opposition politicians. They didn’t even show up for the anniversary.
They knew what was up. They refused to allow their blood and suffering to be exploited for political gain. These same Opposition politicians had ordered violent crackdowns on dissenters when they were in power. Some disappeared and killed dissenters. No one should exploit Gen Z and their loss.
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. On X:@makaumutua.
