AN ANGRY DEMOGRAPHY

Someone using their phone

Public servants facing graft allegations in Kenya today find themselves between a rock and a hard place when citizens talk freely about their allegations on social media. The individual(s) facing the allegations is dragged on social media ‘mud’, mangling there once spotless reputation and declaring them guilty without a trial.

In his weekly column #Frontrow, Larry Madowo talked of this ruthless court of public opinion that condemned the estranged officials. The article that came after his tell it all interview with Nancy Barasa also drew an example of the predicament of Ann Waiguru who has fallen in the hands of the ‘court’ double digit times.

In the article titled ‘Stop judging people without facts; it can ruin their lives’, Larry raised a poignant question,

“Why are we so eager to believe that someone is automatically complicit just because an accusation has been made against them?”

One thing that is clear when the public servant facing malpractice allegations is torn apart on social media, is the anger laced in the no holds barred commentary. Not to justify the unjust treatment but the truth is unless; national institutions tasked with prosecuting corrupt officials are ‘cleansed’, to a point the taxpayers exude confidence in them, public officials respect hard earned taxpayers money,

the abuse and condemnation by citizens online is bound to continue and even get fierce.

In his article Larry wrote “…we should learn to suspend judgement and presume everyone to be innocent until proven otherwise.”

What is the reward in this morally upright way?

The reward should be the responsible person(s) being held accountable and the looted resources returned to public coffers. But we have been deprived of this reward for the longest time possible.

There is a demography in this country that not only knows no one responsible for loss of public funds is ever held accountable. A demography that has witnessed first-hand the legal process of accountability being rigged long before it started.

According to a story done by ventures Africa, 4 million Kenyans engage in social media daily.

35 percent of twitter users are aged between 18-29 years old, and they are part of the demography am writing about (source: jetcrams.com).

So, the largest portion of the population, about (40) percent, which is worst hit by joblessness, makes up the largest percentage of active social media users.

Basically, we have 40 percent of the total national population composed of angry people with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, google+ and Linked in accounts, which they are not afraid to use to rip the people ripping their future through corruption- with and without evidence.

An angry and dissatisfied demography is the reason we see so much anger when issues of governance are discussed online.

I mean seriously...

What will a young person say about his/ her country, where despite having a degree they can’t get a decent job (and don’t be so fast to say how he/ she is not hard working). Corruption has created a wall between the potential employers and to climb over one needs ‘god-fathers’ and bribes

this is the bitter truth.

Goldenberg scandal was the country’s gift to this generation when they popped to the world. They are now in their twenties and the puzzle is still unsolved. The face of the Goldenberg scandal resonates with most if not all corruption cases in Kenya.

As corruption, and unemployment rise so does the anger and the feeling that our country does not reward hard work. It is such anger that manifests itself in venomous online rants whenever we talk about corruption.

It is because of this anger that judgement is never suspended and such anger pushes people to presume everyone is guilty even when the EACC declares them innocent.

By the way, remember Tunisia?

When Mohammed Bouazizi, a 26 year old Tunisian set himself ablaze on 17th December, 2010? The street vendor was protesting after confiscation of his wares by a municipal official.

His family and friends shared a video of angry Bouazizi on social media and on 18^th December, the same year there were civil protests against: Government corruption, unemployment and social inequalities.

An angry demography (I repeat) is a ticking time bomb and apart from brutal online rant, it can detonate to civil demonstrations.

There is a generation that is wounded. A generation that has lost trust in most of the fundamental institutions in the country.

Larry Madowo was right when he wrote, “…strange things happen in Kenya and they have helped erode our trust in institutions”. And this digital generation has no problem channeling the anger through hashtags.

We are way past asking them nicely to calm down. Hope only lies in seriously transforming our institutions to create a system that will reward the hard work the citizens.