Protesters picketing along Kimathi Street in Nairobi during the commemoration of the Gen-Z protests on June 2, 2025.
This week, Nepal’s Gen Z achieved what seemed impossible: they toppled Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s government in just 36 hours.
What began as protests against a social media ban escalated into a nationwide revolution that forced the entire government to resign. Compare this to Kenya’s 2024 Gen Z uprising.
Protesters burned Parliament, over 60 people were killed by police, and President William Ruto was forced to withdraw the Finance Bill 2024, yet the regime survived.
Different countries, same generational awakening. Kenya’s incomplete revolution represents an unstoppable force that will emerge again, and the political elite know it.
The contrast reveals profound truths about institutional capture and generational power.
In Nepal, youth protesters used decentralised coordination through Discord and Instagram to sustain pressure across multiple cities simultaneously.
When government forces killed 19 protesters, the violence backfired spectacularly, galvanising broader support and creating a cascade of ministerial resignations within hours.
Kenya’s Gen Z demonstrated similar organisational sophistication, translating the Finance Bill into local languages, using AI tools for civic education and coordinating through TikTok and X (Twitter).
Yet constitutional constraints and elite bargaining prevented regime change.
Kenya’s political establishment recognises that it is facing an existential threat. The 2024 protests united youth across ethnic lines for the first time since independence, a nightmare scenario for politicians who have built careers on tribal division.
President Ruto’s response was swift and revealing: he co-opted opposition leader Raila Odinga into government, effectively neutralising the traditional opposition.
This elite unity against generational change explains the unprecedented brutality. Police killed over 90 protesters in two years, with 83 people disappeared and 20 dying in custody in four months.
The Albert Ojwang case, a teacher killed for criticising a police chief on social media, demonstrates how far the State will go to silence dissent. When elites fear losing everything, they abandon all pretence of democratic governance.
The demographic mathematics are inescapable. Kenya’s median age is 20 years, with 75 per cent of the population under 35 years facing limited economic opportunities.
This isn’t a temporary political problem but a permanent structural reality. Every year, 680,000 young people enter a labour market that creates few formal jobs, while 67 per cent of youth remain unemployed despite 5 per cent GDP growth.
Kenya’s institutions have been systematically captured to serve elite interests while brutalising ordinary citizens.
Land rights have become a mechanism for elite wealth extraction rather than economic empowerment. Over 200,000 fraudulent land titles have been created since independence, with political cronies using court connections to grab property from legitimate owners.
The judiciary sells justice to the highest bidder. Mr Kung’u Muigai’s explosive allegations detailed judges taking bribes in hotel basements and supermarket parking lots during his 33-year legal battle.
Parliament has become an embarrassing rubber stamp. The Adani airport deal demonstrated this perfectly: a proposal supposedly prepared, received, scrutinised and approved by the Kenya Airports Authority all on the same day in March 2024.
Young Kenyans understand they live in a banana republic despite official statistics.
They see ghost workers constituting 35 per cent of Nairobi City Council payroll while they can’t find jobs. They watch politicians’ children, popularly known as Nepo babies, flaunt luxury cars on social media while their families struggle to afford bread.
The Finance Bill 2024 attempted to tax sanitary products, digital services and essential goods, extracting more resources from the poor to service debts created through elite corruption.
Kenya’s Gen Z uprising wasn’t defeated but temporarily contained. The underlying conditions that sparked the revolution have only worsened. Debt remains unsustainable, unemployment continues rising, and institutional capture has deepened. The Albert Ojwang killing and subsequent 2025 protests prove the movement’s resilience.
Nepal’s success demonstrates that determined youth can topple seemingly entrenched governments when they sustain pressure and leverage government overreach.
Kenya’s elite understand this lesson. Their unity in co-opting opposition, brutalising protesters and maintaining extractive institutions reflects their recognition that generational change threatens everything they’ve built.
But demographic destiny cannot be denied forever. Every month, 56,000 more young Kenyans reach voting age while experiencing systematic economic exclusion. Social media continues democratising information and organisation despite state surveillance.
To Kenya’s political establishment: adapt or face the full wrath of an awakened generation.
To Kenya’s youth: your grievances are legitimate, your demands are rational, and your time has come. History shows that when youth rise with sustained purpose, even the most captured institutions eventually fall.
The writer is a whistleblower, strategy consultant, and a startup mentor. www.nelsonamenya.com
