The sustained protests by young people, popularly known as Gen Zs, over the rejected Finance Bill of 2024 changed the country’s political landscape forever.
From the handling of unpopular government policies to the organisation of protests, Gen Zs have introduced a new phenomenon with which the government is still struggling to deal to this day.
The lack of a leader (leaderless movement) presented President William Ruto with a dilemma regarding how to engage with the restless and energetic young people who had put immense pressure on his administration and leadership through demonstrations.
Human rights Activist Hanifa Adan takes a selfie with protesters on Kimathi Street in Nairobi on June 25, 2025, during demonstrations to mark one year since anti-government protesters stormed Parliament, an incident that left several people dead and many others injured.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
Although the president conceded to one of their demands by withdrawing the widely rejected Finance Bill 2024, it is his call for dialogue with Gen Z that has presented him with a challenge: how will he bring them to the negotiating table?
Unlike other groups such as religious leaders, the private sector, and other professional organisations that have a leadership structure, the young people who organised the anti-Finance Bill 2024 protests have no known leaders or structure, yet they speak with one coordinated voice.
Their greatest asset is their online platform, where they plan, organise, and execute their tasks.
Rather than huddling in a boardroom as the old do, the young people gather in spaces where they organise themselves with their own moderators and experts, and dissect issues affecting them.
In the recently signed Finance Bill 2026, now an Act of Parliament, the young people have digested and simplified the proposed legislation into language that the average person can easily understand.
Described as one of the most complex Finance Bills, even MPs struggled to understand it. However, Gen Z deployed their tech savviness to break it down and discuss it in their various spaces.
Police officers impound a motorcycle at Kangemi, Nairobi County where they have mounted roadblocks to prevent motorists from accessing the CBD ahead of the planned Gen-z anniversary protests, on June 25, 2026.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
Government documents are often bulky and full of jargon, which puts many Kenyans off reading and digesting the contents of such proposals.
However, the use of digital tools to simplify such documents is not a recent phenomenon. In 2024, young people on TikTok teamed up and translated the controversial Finance Bill into local languages to ensure that non-English and Swahili-speaking Kenyans were aware of the government's intentions.
However, the advancement in analysing Bills by the young people is not only limited to Finance Bills alone.
In 2024, a software engineer Sospeter Mong’are introduced the ICT Authority Bill 2024 GPT to provide answers and insights on the Information and Communications Technology Authority Bill, 2024.
Another Gen Z Marion Kavengi created ‘SHIF GPT’ to provide a breakdown of the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) which replaced the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).
The GPT tool breaks down patients’ benefits under the public health insurance scheme across different tariffs.
In February this year, Ms Ellen Kwilla developed a tool called Track Minister, a civic technology platform launched designed to connect public funds, elected leaders and development outcomes into a single query accountability chain.
The technology is structured into interconnected modules that mirror the flow of governance from policy formulation to implementation
Police officers use horses to disperse protesters along Parliament Road in Nairobi on June 25, 2026, during the second anniversary of the Anti-Finance Bill 2024 Gen Z protests.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation
The technology breaks audit findings down into structured data points that can be queried by constituency, institution, type of irregularity or financial year. The platform also pulls in Controller of Budget data enabling comparisons between allocated and spent funds and national versus county absorption rates.
The rapid shift has forced parliament to also change how it deals with petitions and committee proceedings. Nowadays, social media comments are closely monitored and concerns raised are directly presented to committees for consideration.
Governance expert Charles Munyui termed the technological revolution caused by the young as a mazing saying it will forever change how politics is done in the country.
According to Mr Munyui, the young people are introducing a new set of politics where political parties do not matter to them but ideology of an individual
“We are dealing with a generation that is so bright. Just the other day they made a small thing of voter registration look so big through Niko kadi digital movement. The process was slow and few people were registering but when they came in, the numbers increased,” Mr Munyui said.
“With Niko Kadi movement, over 2 million within a short time, that is what these young people can do with technology. They might be quiet now but a month to elections, they cause a surprise on who will become president,” he added.
