Raila: I am not a beneficiary of Gen Z protests

The climax of the unrest reached on June 25, when Kenyan youth stormed parliament after legislators hurriedly passed the unsavory Finance Bill. 

Protests would later continue, leading to the Head of State recalling the Finance Bill in totality. 

Ruto would later dismiss his entire Cabinet. 

Weeks after the Cabinet dissolution, the President appeared publicly to announce new ministers, including members of Raila Odinga-led Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). This was described as a ‘handshake’ moment between the political rivals who then formed a ‘ broad-based’ government. 

Here, the opposition leader was seen as a beneficiary of the protests. A notion he dismisses. 

Raila spoke to Citizen TV’s Seth Olale, where he termed the allegation as ‘useless’. 

“I am not a beneficiary of the Gen Z protest. That is a useless allegation made in the media. I have not benefited. What happened was Ruto said he wanted to involve the larger society in governance and asked if we could give him some people from our party,” Raila said in the exclusive interview. 

He further argued that youthful Kenyans were nowhere to be found when talks on the broad-based government took place.

“I stayed away. Then the President responded by dissolving the Cabinet. That deflated the pressure because there was no government to criticize, then he said we were going to consult extensively to form a new government and now Gen Zs were not available for conversations. You asked them to come forward they were not coming forward. So we were in a catch-22 situation,” added Raila, who is now eyeing the chairmanship of the African Union Commission (AUC). 

Raila holds that he consulted his co-principals in the Azimio la Umoja coalition before making the decision.

“Some were ready, some were not. In the end, we seconded some of our people to the government to work,” he said. 

The former Prime Minister added that by being in the broad-based government, ODM has not formed a coalition with Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza.  

“It was not forming a coalition, we did not sit down and negotiate. These people were hired on merit, they had to relinquish their positions in the party and not their membership,” he said. 

Further commenting on the Gen Z-led protests, Raila argued that the demands made by the youth are similar to what he advocated for when he called for national protests in 2023. 

“Gen Z was basically a continuation of what we had done last year when we were on the streets. Some of the issues raised by Gen Zs were very similar to the issues we raised last year. We ended up with the intervention of the international community,” said Raila.

According to the opposition leader, the Gen Z revolution was fueled by the failure to implement proposals made by the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO).

He further opined that Gen Zs actions were as a result of a lack of confidence in the executive, Judiciary, and legislature.