Leadership: The tomorrow that youths were promised is today

I am certain I am living in the future. For years, I heard the same line repeated in classrooms, church, political rallies, leadership conferences and even conversations among young people: “the youth are the leaders of tomorrow.”

Tomorrow. It was always tomorrow.

But standing in August 2026, I cannot help but wonder whether tomorrow finally arrived. We were expected to study, graduate, find jobs, settle down and perhaps, somewhere along the way, earn the privilege of being taken seriously. Leadership was something that seemed to belong to people older than us people with titles, political connections, years of experience and, sometimes, enough money to put their faces on posters.

But I am beginning to think tomorrow has arrived. And perhaps that is why this International Youth Day  felt different. As the world marked International Youth Day on August 12, a day established by the United Nations to draw attention to issues affecting young people and to recognise them as partners in shaping society, the conversations in Kenya cannot be separated from what has happened over the last two years.

It cannot be separated from June 2024 protests against the Finance Bill. It cannot be separated from the Constitution. And it certainly cannot be separated from the question of what young Kenyans intend to do with the space they are fighting so hard to occupy.

I write this not merely as a journalist observing a generation from the outside. I write this as part of it. I know what it means to be young and be given a leadership position, but I also know the difference between occupying a seat and actually having a voice.

I have been a student leader. I have sat in rooms where young people were expected to speak for others. I have represented students, participated in decision-making and learnt that leadership is not simply about having a title next to your name. It is about standing in a room and being willing to speak when it would be easier to remain silent.