Making politics 'fun, trendy, sexy': How Gen Z could shape Kenya's next election

ByBarbara Plett Usher Africa correspondent, Reporting fromNairobi, Kangema & Meru. Ademba Allans is making it "cool" to vote in Kenya.

Key points

• Ruto and his United Democratic Alliance (UDA) are facing solid head winds with less than a year to go before the August 2027 vote.
• And they have the numbers to create a difference – more than 30% of voting-age Kenyans are younger than 35.
• One man who has captured the attention of plenty of Gen Zs is Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna.
• Sifuna first caught their attention when he tried to stop police from shooting at protesters who were storming parliament during the 2024 demonstrations.
• "This election in 2027 is when this theory that the young people are advancing will be put to the test, " he remarked.

Notably, the student journalist turned civic mobiliser introduced a voter registration drive on social media earlier this year, using snappy selfies infused with music and humour to target young residents.

For context, the result astonished him and plenty of observers of Kenyan politics – by the time the registration period concluded, 2.6 million new voters nationwide had signed up. He is aiming to obtain another 2.3 million on board in the next round.

"It was the Gen Z way of doing politics, " he tells me. "Fun, trendy, sexy, fashionable. Since of how we created the hype around it, residents had the fear of missing out. Everybody wanted to be involved."

Gen Z, the term applied to describe residents born in the late 1990s and early 2000s, burst onto the scene two years ago with mass protests that forced the administration to retreat on a widely unpopular tax bill. But their victory was followed by a police crackdown that killed and injured dozens of demonstrators.

Now plenty of young Kenyans are planning to move from the street to the ballot box, angry with a political establishment they accuse of corruption and police brutality.

And they have the numbers to create a difference – more than 30% of voting-age Kenyans are younger than 35. Polls suggest President William Ruto is looking vulnerable.

Just want to vote in the right leaders, and this is what we created.

But can Gen Z convert a decentralized digital-led rebellion into organised political power?

"These youth-led movements are a wild card, in that they are unpredictable, " notes political analyst Tom Mboya.

"They don't require much in the way of resources and can pop up at any time. The finance bill protests were political in nature, but the movement has not been tested at an overtly political level. So if they decide to backing a candidate, then he's probable to do fairly well."

One of the strengths of the digitally savvy Gen Z activists is that they have been able to mobilise outside the party structures and ethnic allegiances that anchor Kenyan politics.

Allans has been careful not to advocate a particular candidate or party – emphasising leadership rather than politicians, marshalling a new force, he notes, outside traditional tribal voting blocs.

"There has never been a case where there is a bloc that is not affiliated to any person or any party. They just want to vote in the right leaders, and this is what we created, " he notes.

"It's more of a swing vote because you cannot tell who we are going to vote for."

More than three-quarters of respondents to a survey conducted in June felt the country was moving in the wrong direction, with two-thirds saying their personal economic situation had worsened since Ruto was elected in 2022.

But analysts argue that the president does not necessarily have to be popular to win. He is a master political organiser with the resources of the state, they say.

Ruto's political rivals are additionally fragmented, and it is not yet clear whether they can form a united opposition to take him on.

One man who has captured the attention of plenty of Gen Zs is Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna. He has emerged as the leader of a movement called Linda Mwananchi (Protect the Citizen). It is getting solid backing from disaffected young individuals.

'They aimed to kill' – BBC identifies security forces who shot Kenya anti-tax protesters.

Now he is championing a "people-led" movement that promotes the protection of human rights and rule of law as enshrined in the constitution.

He has yet to officially declare a run for the presidency, but is already on the road rallying backing. The BBC caught up with him on a recent trip to Meru county in central Kenya, a region that voted strongly for Ruto in the last election.

"Young people want us to create an environment where everybody feels that they can compete fairly, " he informed me before starting out on his raucous road show.

We need to absolutely dismantle the system so that everybody has a fair chance at life, a fair chance at education, a fair chance at employment, and the opportunities to grow themselves.

"This election in 2027 is when this theory that the young people are advancing will be put to the test, " he remarked. "Our challenge as a leadership is to ensure you have a compelling message that then encourages people to come out, let them see the vision for the new country."

Ruto additionally had a compelling vision for the country when he came to power in 2022.

He promised to transform the economy from the bottom up, with a focus on lifting the marginalised. His administration has since introduced changes including landmark reforms that widen access to public healthcare, but numerous young individuals felt betrayed by his austerity measures and tax hikes.

"I'm here to participate in a revolution change that we want a new Kenyan youth leader who knows the common problems that are facing the young people, " 23-year-old Brandon Muremi informed the BBC.

I discovered him in a relatively quiet corner of the final stop in a hectic day of a "rolling rally" – Sifuna's convoy visited four locations, sometimes blocking traffic as he and local politicians climbed on top of their vehicles and delivered rousing speeches at ear-splitting volumes.

They promise sweets, but we don't feel any sugar in our mouths.

"We are looking for a leader who sticks to his plans, not just talking the promises that he makes, " agreed Conrad Mutangili, a 19-year-old mechanical engineering student who had come out of curiosity.

"We are looking for somebody who can actually accomplish and actually bring to the people what they are talking about, " he remarked. "Because they promise sweets, but we don't feel any sugar in our mouths."

"We want immediate results, " remarked a 22-year-old computer science student, Yvonne Kileme, acknowledging that the results of administration projects may be more long-term. "And one thing that we want as youths is employment, employment, employment, employment."

Ruto argues strongly that his administration is delivering jobs, and states the high rate of youth unemployment is a difficulty that predates his presidency.

He has reached out to Gen Z with various programmes that offer grants and loans to small business and youth-led enterprises, technology hubs and digital work opportunities.

Meanwhile, the national youth leader of Ruto's UDA, Kariuki Ngunjiri, informed the BBC he was confident of winning the election with an overwhelming majority.

"The president is a listening president and he's been able to now come down to the youth, get what their concerns are, give them jobs, and that has absolutely, even for the party, given us a head start, " he remarked.

"We are not worried regarding the social media buzz as we are individuals who actually engage the young residents on real, actual, tangible development. What you see mostly on hashtags and headlines does not really concern us."

In short, making politics ' fun, trendy, sexy' : How Gen Z could shape Kenya' s next is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.