David Maraga
For former Chief Justice Maraga, the Cabinet reshuffle that took place shortly after the Gen-Z protests last year did not bring about the change Kenyans wanted but was just a sham in which familiar political figures were recycled and given key government positions.
This he said on Monday, April 7, during the launch of Kenya’s Ideas Festival 2025 in Nairobi, where stakeholders in the civic rights spaces, the youth and multinational organisations congregated to discuss ways of pushing Kenyans’ call for justice and equity forward.
The former President of the Supreme Court noted that the youth-led anti-Finance Bill 2024 marked a pivotal moment in Kenya’s political landscape. The withdrawal of the Bill, following the youth’s agitation, was a powerful demonstration of citizen influence and participatory democracy in action, that for the first time in recent history, the government was compelled to listen to its people’s voices in a meaningful way, he said.
Unfortunately, whereas this moment symbolised more than just a policy shift but the growing strength of civic engagement and public accountability, the political class opted to initiate half-hearted change.
“Some aspects of the Finance Bill were retained and the Cabinet reshuffling, while key, ended up recycling some politicians in key positions of political governance instead of truly harnessing the potential of the youth engagement in politics and governance,” the former CJ said.
Even worse, the reshuffling of the Cabinet saw the entry of key opposition figures into the government, where they were granted posh positions of leadership even as key voices critical of the government were sidelined, something that Mr Maraga said greatly diminished the opposition’s power.
“The reshuffle weakened opposition and narrowed space for meaningful checks and balances. More worryingly, our civic space continues to shrink with the rise of regressive laws, police brutality, enforced disappearances and abductions, reminiscent of the disturbing echoes of the 1980s,” he said.
The former boss of the Judiciary noted the use of legal tools to suppress the civic space and expressed his concern at the rise of regressive legislation aimed at curtailing freedom of expression, assembly and association.
Mr Maraga cautioned the State from resorting to the ways of the past, reminding it that “if there is one thing history teaches us, when people rise, no amount of repression can hold back change”
“This generation is not waiting for permission. They are building transitional networks of solidarity. They are the brains behind transformative setups, podcasts and people assemblies, mobilising resources for their course through crowdfunding. It happened in June last year. The time for lamentation is over,” he said.
He then made an appeal to the civil society, independent media, and grassroots movements, urging them to be more resolute since their role is now more important than ever.
On her part, the Vice President of the International Commission of Jurists-Kenya, Christine Alai, said, Kenya will only make progress if it unifies and collaboratively demands public accountability, justice and equity.
It is for this reason that the Festival Idea event was organised to bring in people from different sectors and generations to deliberate on key issues including protecting the constitution, the bill of rights, freedoms of assembly, expression, association and ensuring every member of the society is included, is crucial, Ms Alai explained.
“We must appreciate we are agitating against a system that is bent on suppressing the people and what the people are saying in this conference and the country is that we will continue to stand up with our constitution as our bulwark,” she said.
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