At a political event in the lakeside city of Kisumu, Hellen Atieno joins her countrymen in dancing to a well-known campaign jingle that has the Kenyan throng on its feet.
But don’t count on the 23-year-old to cast a ballot. “I’ve only attended the demonstration because it’s financially viable. I’m hoping something will come up “Atieno told AFP, referring to the common practice in Kenya of giving away free things to potential supporters.
The former fishmonger, who is currently jobless, says she would abstain from voting in Kenya’s legislative and presidential elections on August 9 because she is so tired of the nation’s closed-off political establishment.
She’s not by herself. According to government statistics, three-quarters of Kenyans are under the age of 34, making it one of the world’s youngest nations.
Many people have no desire to take part in an election that is largely seen as being dishonest and useless.
According to data released by Kenya’s electoral commission last month, the number of young voters who have registered to vote has decreased by 5% since the 2017 election, while the number of voters over 35 has climbed.
Young people make up fewer than 40% of the over 22 million Kenyans eligible to vote this year, according to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
A freebie spree has been launched by politicians in response, with people being given cash, umbrellas, shirts, caps, and even packages of maize flour, an essential food, for attending their rallies.
Bribes are not a recent development in Kenyan politics; they are a criminal offense punishable by a fine of up to two million Kenyan shillings ($17,000) and/or a six-year prison sentence. However, soaring food inflation, which has been made worse by the Ukraine conflict, and a severe unemployment crisis have increased the demand for such handouts.
Five million young Kenyans were unemployed, according to census data released in 2020.
Despite not intending to vote and considering politics to be little more than “a nasty game,” Brian Denzel, a 19-year-old butcher, has spent the past several weeks attending rally after protest in an effort to cash in on the money being offered.
He was standing in line to get 200 shillings ($1.70) from a local politician when he asked, “Who will reject the free money that they are given?”
Even Kenya’s interior minister, Fred Matiang’i, warned reporters on Wednesday that politicians were buying locals with 100 and 200 shilling notes.
In the months before the elections, experts hypothesized that the youth factor, with a younger voter less likely to vote according to ethnic connections, could aid Kenya’s frequently corrosive tribal politics.
Young Kenyans are less tribally minded, but they also lack “ideological constancy,” according to Francis Owuor, a political analyst based in Kisumu, who spoke to AFP.
According to Owuor, “That conviction that usually comes with the political process is not there.” Everyone is to responsible for this, including the people and the leaders, but since they are the ones who have the responsibility, they must shoulder a large portion of the blame.
Many Kenyans are disillusioned by ongoing disputes over the validity of polls and contested election results thirty years after the birth of multi-party democracy in that country.
The battle for president this year is mostly between Raila Odinga, 77, the veteran opposition leader who is now supported by the ruling party, and deputy president William Ruto, 55.
If the results are accepted by both presidents, it will be a first for the nation since 2002.
Amina Soud, the IEBC’s manager for voter education, told AFP that the election body was “worried” about the growing disinterest among young people in politics.
Soud, referring to the IEBC’s social media campaign to register new voters, said, “We conducted a lot of mobilization during registration utilizing all these platforms and still voter apathy was too high.”
However, encouraging young people to vote through TikTok campaigns or comics in Sheng, a popular local vernacular among urban millennials, offers little to give optimism to a generation of Kenyans dealing with out-of-control inflation, corruption, and unemployment.
Irene Awino Owino, a 27-year-old salon owner, told AFP, “I don’t think I am going to vote.” Because the government prioritizes itself over us, I have no interest.
