Lead image for ‘Tuko Kadi’, debt clock earn two Gen Zs Katiba@16 recognition.
After the 2024 Gen Z protests, one young Kenyan asked a simple question and turned it into a national push for the youth to get voter cards.
The other built a clock to make Kenya’s trillion-shilling debt impossible to ignore.
At 26, Allan Ademba, the face behind the ‘Tuko Kadi’ initiative, transformed the phrase into a rallying cry during the mass voter registration drive, urging young Kenyans to move beyond online activism and show up at IEBC registration centres.
Ellen Kawila, 25, took a different route. She built the Kenya Debt Clock, a digital tool that tracks the country’s mounting debt, turning complex public finance figures into something ordinary citizens can see, follow and question.
Both have made social media central to their civic work and have previously been featured in the Daily Nation and NTV.
French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA-Nairobi) Director Dr. Sylvain Racaud (left) presents an award to Ellen Kawila, a civic educator and innovator known for creating the Kenya Debt Clock, during the Youth Congress’ Katiba Roll of Honour award ceremony at Alliance Française in Nairobi on August 28, 2026.