Youths, It Is Our Time to Become Leaders

In the past three recent years, there has been an uproar and positive exuberance shown by youths across African countries. Why? Because the young nation has realized that there is a need for change in all leadership spheres and angles of power. The social and political crisis has brought about the need for change that youths are fighting for. It is a standard habit that is in every level of organization, that change must come if people realize that they cannot bear what has been going wrong.

For many years, and doubtlessly since independence, Youths in Africa have been abridged to believe that they are leaders of tomorrow. A tomorrow that will never come. This is a common say among the older politicians that has crippled the ability of youths to push their interests and leadership agenda into another level. There is nothing like a leader of tomorrow because tomorrow has no leader unless they start today.

There are a substantial number of leadership spheres that we youths can take the lead. People very often have mistaken the term leadership largely as a political thing. I realized that other than politics, youth can also clutch to other leadership dimensions like business, organizational and religious leaders. Unfortunately, many people think that leadership is all about political power, but that is not it. Leadership is to have an influence, to empower others and to translate a vision into reality. If that is what leadership means, then the leadership is not only about politics and political power.

Political leadership is a major concern and a day to day topic of discussion among the people of the world. There is a great wrangle between older politicians and young politicians that is about who really should lead a country. Older politicians believe that they have the wisdom to lead. On the other hand, youths have developed a positive energy and a different perspective about politics. They are now enlightened about leadership and this has created their hunger of political leadership.

The need for participation in national politics has risen because of many reasons. For example in Kenya, youth activism started when youths realized that the government has been oppressing them in many ways to say. Why is it that every government since independence has failed to provide employment opportunities as they promise in their manifestos? Why is it that the governments have failed to visibly push the interests of youths and their agendas? And why is it that the youths are the most tyrannized group in a democratic country like Kenya? And yet this happens when it is ratified in the African Union charter that a government is obliged to be committed to its citizens, including the youth. The answer to these questions is that the government does not care about the youths.

If we could start with political parties in Kenya, we believe that they are a gateway to democracy because they all have national interests drafted in their manifestos. The 2007 government stated in its manifesto that it could involve the youth among other groups in the management of its affairs. It meant that the youths were to have their rightful positions in politics that could generate a new lead generation. That did not happen because all the government ministries and departments were filled with older politicians.

During the 2017 party primaries, there were instances where youths could get denied party tickets by their party leaders in favor of their old folks. We saw a complete lack of democracy in party leadership that led to the marginalization of youths in their parties. The result is that our parliament is full of old people who cannot present our interests at the table, people who cannot even propose bills that are of national interests. We are in a country that 85% of the people are youths, our population structure is a perfect pyramid. There is a great possibility that we can create our own political parties that are engraved in democracy and equality. With these political parties and the great number of youths, we can change our country and make a great nation. Let me put this in a spiritual way. The bible is full of biographies about leaders appointed by God. A spectacular story is about King David, appointed to lead the kingdom of Israel and Judah in his youthful years. He achieved many great things including making his nation peaceful and building a Temple for the Lord. What I mean is that for a nation to achieve full potential the youths must be involved. King David was the greatest king Israel ever had.

If the youths could get the political power the next thing that will automatically happen is that we will achieve organizational leadership and power. An organization in this sense I mean Kenya as an organization. There are many departments within an organization. For instance, In Kenya, we have government ministries, state departments, and parastatals. Any casual observer can tell that 90% of these are managed by non-youths, so to say. And why? Because the top national leaders are old aged people who do not care about the youths, they do not know where our abilities lie.

If half of these departments could be put under the management of the youth then we could avoid the challenges that these national departments go through. Responsible youth leaders will eradicate the problem of corruption in these departments. I am not saying that old leaders cannot fight corruption and the decays in the government, because they already proved their failure.

Business leadership is one of the most ignored spheres under the term Leadership. Again the government has failed the youths in this. In the past decade, children grew with a debauched mentality imparted by their parents. They believed that you get educated up to the university level, get a job and earn a living, and count your days. I am glad that this is changing, as youths now know it different. We go to school to get the knowledge for a better life and not employment. This is how and why business leaders must come in.

The government has failed the youth in supporting them in business. Today government tenders specifically for youths are given to the people in the government. It is hard for youths in Kenya to obtain the business million loans that are set aside by the government. It is also hard to start a viable business in Kenya because of the rigid policies placed by the government. All the millions set aside end up in the pockets of a few nasty greedy politicians. In the end, we Kenyan youths lose what is rightfully ours.

There is a solution to this problem. For us to be business leaders in, we must first take the national leadership in our hands and hearts. National leadership will enable us to change the policies to a favorable form that will benefit Kenyans in a maximum way. Policies that will see us develop in the business niche. This will solve many problems affecting the youth the major one being unemployment. The sad thing is that our national leaders cannot see this, despite claiming to be wise.

President Kenyatta once said in his statement that power is taken. I believe he meant power that comes from leadership, legitimate and authoritative power. He was right when he said this because he knew that the old people will always fight for power. Gloria Steinem stated that ‘power is taken not given. The process of taking is empowerment in itself.’ Empowerment will not come if we do not crave for the political leadership that will, in turn, reward us with empowerment.

There are many quotes that make me believe that youths have the ability to take power and leadership and change the world. I have sampled some of the best that I have come across because I think they reflect the youth. They simply mean that we have the qualities of a leader who can bring change.

• “If you are a young leader, you have energy. You bring new ideas and a fresh perspective to the table. And you probably are willing to take a few risks to break the status quo. You have a lot of potentials.” — Anonymous
• “Good leaders need a positive agenda, not just an agenda of dealing with a crisis.” — Michael Porter
• “Leaders need to be optimists. Their vision is beyond the present.” — Rudy Giuliani
• “A leader is best when people barely know he exists when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” — Lao Tzu