The country is witnessing a familiar political dance, but this time, the audience isn’t clapping especially Gen Zs.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has sparked a firestorm by suggesting that the 2027 elections could be nullified without urgent constitutional reforms.
The proposed fix? A referendum to formalize the Office of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Official Opposition.
While the government frames this as a way to ensure every region has a face in government, Kenya’s youth are sending back a blunt, two-word reply “Don’t try.”
For Gen Z, this feels like a sequel to a movie they never liked. The timing is particularly sensitive.
Just fifteen years after the 2010 Constitution was celebrated as a progressive shield for the people, there is a deep-seated suspicion that these reforms are less about national unity and more about political job creation.
To many young Kenyans, creating a Prime Minister’s post looks like a strategy to manage elite interests and distribute power among the big boys rather than addressing the bread-and-butter issues currently squeezing the life out of the common citizen.
The warning from the youth isn’t just noise, it’s a reflection of a changing political landscape where Kenyans are more focused on accountability than additional layers of bureaucracy.
They argue that if the current system is struggling, the solution isn’t to add more offices, but to make the existing ones work.
Issues like constituency boundaries and census disputes are being seen as convenient excuses to push through a broader agenda that favors the ruling class.
President Ruto’s administration now finds itself at a crossroads.
Pushing for a referendum in a climate of economic hardship and youthful defiance is a high-stakes gamble.
If the government ignores the “Don’t try” ultimatum, they may find that the 2027 polls won’t just be about who wins, but about a generation finally saying enough to the endless tinkering with the country’s supreme law.
