•Monday, December 08, 2008
Last Saturday, I was stuck along Mombasa road. Traffic jam is the order of the day in Nairobi and it is amazing how tolerant we are, burning all that fuel and wasting millions of productive man hours on the road. Now that fuel is retailing at Shs 75.9 from a high of Shs 105 and bound to go lower, Nairobi roads will be a number one source of heart attacks in the days to come.
As I idled in the traffic, there was an endless stream of young people in all sizes and shapes trekking back to town. I later understood they were coming from a musical concert dubbed "Generation Jipange" whose ads have been running on TV. Jipange is a swahili word meaning "to plan your things" which may also mean "sort yourself out" in sheng, a youth connoted dialect.
From all the signs of "Generation Jipange", I can tell that our young opportunistic politicians are re-creating "Vijana Tugutuke" youth movement that preceded the 2007 sham elections. It was all a musical thing, then civic education before the "appropriate" politicians were introduced into the well-choreographed setup. "Tugutuke" is a swahili word for "jolt" whereas "vijana" means "youth"
John Kiarie (KJ) of the redykulass fame is one of the architects of Generation Jipange. KJ ran and lost the Dagoretti parliamentary election in 2007, went to court to challenge the results and has since lost the case. I saw him yesterday on TV, having received death threats over the ongoing ODM nominations, which surprisingly is turning chaotic at some places, a sign that we have not learnt or dealt with true causes of violence in our political system. Observing KJ and the other "celebs" championing the Generation Jipange craze, you do not have to waste time guessing where the lost generation is headed.
From the experience of 2002 and 2007, I no longer believe in youth leadership at the exclusivity of the older generation. We have young leaders in parliament and the government and there has been no sterling performance to prove the case for youth leadership of this country. For example, when the current maize crisis is investigated and the scum unearthed, I can almost guarantee it will be a thumbs down to the young leaders in our government. Ditto, the 2007/08 post-election violence. There cannot be successful youth leadership at the exclusion of other strata of the population in Kenya.
Observing those youths strutting back to town for another night-out raving at the Smirnoff experience at KICC, as some of them harassed innocent motorists caught up in the jam, one could easily see the rudderless, hopeless and confused soul yearning for direction, hope and a mission in life. I doubt that Generation Jipange will give the youth what they need. Maybe what they feel they want. I fear it is another sham to take advantage of the Kenya youth, whip up their emotions and leave them high and dry come 2012.
Generation Jipange lacks visionary leadership and a solution to the problems facing the lost generation. The five objectives I heard on TV as symbolising Generation Jipange lacks the touch of the common youth. It does not embody solutions to the employment crisis, need for career growth opportunities, affordable education opportunities, HIV/AIDS pandemic, identity crisis and a mountain of other critical challenges facing the Kenyan youth.
It is selfish, reeks and bound to fail.
Other links
When Motorists Faced the Music
Jipange
As I idled in the traffic, there was an endless stream of young people in all sizes and shapes trekking back to town. I later understood they were coming from a musical concert dubbed "Generation Jipange" whose ads have been running on TV. Jipange is a swahili word meaning "to plan your things" which may also mean "sort yourself out" in sheng, a youth connoted dialect.
From all the signs of "Generation Jipange", I can tell that our young opportunistic politicians are re-creating "Vijana Tugutuke" youth movement that preceded the 2007 sham elections. It was all a musical thing, then civic education before the "appropriate" politicians were introduced into the well-choreographed setup. "Tugutuke" is a swahili word for "jolt" whereas "vijana" means "youth"
John Kiarie (KJ) of the redykulass fame is one of the architects of Generation Jipange. KJ ran and lost the Dagoretti parliamentary election in 2007, went to court to challenge the results and has since lost the case. I saw him yesterday on TV, having received death threats over the ongoing ODM nominations, which surprisingly is turning chaotic at some places, a sign that we have not learnt or dealt with true causes of violence in our political system. Observing KJ and the other "celebs" championing the Generation Jipange craze, you do not have to waste time guessing where the lost generation is headed.
From the experience of 2002 and 2007, I no longer believe in youth leadership at the exclusivity of the older generation. We have young leaders in parliament and the government and there has been no sterling performance to prove the case for youth leadership of this country. For example, when the current maize crisis is investigated and the scum unearthed, I can almost guarantee it will be a thumbs down to the young leaders in our government. Ditto, the 2007/08 post-election violence. There cannot be successful youth leadership at the exclusion of other strata of the population in Kenya.
Observing those youths strutting back to town for another night-out raving at the Smirnoff experience at KICC, as some of them harassed innocent motorists caught up in the jam, one could easily see the rudderless, hopeless and confused soul yearning for direction, hope and a mission in life. I doubt that Generation Jipange will give the youth what they need. Maybe what they feel they want. I fear it is another sham to take advantage of the Kenya youth, whip up their emotions and leave them high and dry come 2012.
Generation Jipange lacks visionary leadership and a solution to the problems facing the lost generation. The five objectives I heard on TV as symbolising Generation Jipange lacks the touch of the common youth. It does not embody solutions to the employment crisis, need for career growth opportunities, affordable education opportunities, HIV/AIDS pandemic, identity crisis and a mountain of other critical challenges facing the Kenyan youth.
It is selfish, reeks and bound to fail.
Other links
When Motorists Faced the Music
Jipange
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3 comments:
you're wrong, there was nothing political about the concert nor is there any opportunistic politicians involved. KJ was an MC, and did not attend in his capacity as a politician.
@anon - I was alluding to the metamorphosis of Vijana Tugutuke which started in the same manner as Generation Jipange. It started with music shows, "civic education" and as time went by Uhuru, Raila and other politicians started showing up and were given considerable time on the podium. The course of Vijana Tugutuke was hijacked or clarified depending on how you look at it.
From the nation link updated in the post, there was a political message. Once the ground-breaking is done through music and "civic education", it is just a matter of time before the real politicians behind the movement show up.
Who footed the bill? Definitely not the "celeb" MCs, not the musicians and obviously NTV was not humanitarian to the course of the youth. And that is my main concern, someone in the shadows is playing mind games with the Kenyan youth, again!
Jipange, Gutuka: Please, not another party!
It is heart breaking to see some of our young promising politicians fall by the wayside because of impatience and lack of judgment. It would be sad to see KJ and the group fall into this same trap that many politicians have fell into. I leave it to you to count the victims.
It almost goes without saying that the only solution our politicians see these days is either to jump from one party to the other or to form their own party. Well, the political party bill is going to tighten things a little bit this may not be an option any longer. One wonders, what happened to the idea of reforming from within? Where are the mavericks?
KJ and the group may have the best of intentions, but if they are not shrewd enough to navigate the murky political waters they will be drowned into political oblivion.
Obama whom they say is their inspiration is known to be smooth operator. He did not win because of the youth vote alone. KJ and the group should remember that the challenges facing Kenya cannot be solved by the youth alone as much as they should be in the forefront of the nation building.
What Kenyans and young Kenyans in particular need is not another party or "movement" that serve no other purpose but the interest of its founders. What they need are leaders who will champion their cause at all costs, not out of convenience or only when it doesn't touch their pockets as many of them have shown as recently.
KJ and the group should read carefully the mood of the public before they make any major moves. Yes, we do need a movement, but please! Not another party.
Jipange, Gutuka, you have my vote as long as you agitate for the issues that really matter for the Kenyan youth.