If you walked through the streets of Nairobi, Kisumu, or Eldoret earlier this year, you felt the ground shake.

You saw a generation that is fearless, articulate, and completely done with the status quo. 

You saw a generation with enough power to force a government to back down on a major piece of legislation just by showing up and making their voices heard in the streets.

But if you walked into a polling station during the just-concluded by-elections, or visited an IEBC voter registration center this month, you saw something else entirely: Silence.

The numbers coming out of the recent by-elections and the ongoing voter registration drive are not just disappointing; they are tragic. Despite constituting the largest demographic in Kenya, the youth vote was virtually non-existent. The queues were dominated by the same older generations that Gen Z is desperate to replace

The uncomfortable truth is this: Kenya’s Gen Z has mastered the art of protest, but they are failing the test of politics.

The Disconnect: Why the Math Isn’t Mathing

We are seeing a dangerous trend where young Kenyans seem to believe that direct action—protests, viral hashtags, and heated X Spaces—is a replacement for voting. It isn’t.

• Protests work like a brake pedal. They are excellent at stopping bad things from happening, like an unfair tax law.
• Voting works like a steering wheel. It is the only tool that chooses the direction the country goes next.

By refusing to register and vote, Gen Z is slamming on the brakes but refusing to grab the steering wheel. The result? The same “old guard” drivers stay in the driver’s seat, waiting for the noise to die down so they can drive us right back to where we started.

“My Vote Doesn’t Count” is a Lie Sold by the Winners

The most common excuse is apathy. “They will steal it anyway,” “All politicians are the same,” or “The system is rigged.”

This cynicism is the greatest weapon of the current political establishment. Every time a young person refuses to register because they believe it doesn’t matter, a corrupt leader celebrates. Low voter turnout is not a protest; it is permission. It is a generic signature on a blank check, handed directly to the very leaders you were chanting “Must Go” against in the streets.

The 2027 Warning

The recent by-elections were not just local events; they were a dry run for the 2027 General Election. If the current apathy continues, the outcome is mathematically guaranteed:

1. Gen Z will dominate the online conversation and win the battle of trending topics.
2. The older generation will dominate the polling stations and win the battle for power.
3. The leadership will remain exactly the same.

From Hashtags to Queues

Let’s be honest: voter registration is boring. Queuing under the sun to cast a ballot is tedious. It doesn’t give you the immediate dopamine hit of a viral tweet or the adrenaline of a massive street march. But it is the only thing that writes history in permanent ink.

If Gen Z truly wants to change the leadership, they must do the one thing the establishment fears most. They must move their power from the streets to the ballot box.

Register. Verify. Vote.

Until then, we are just shouting at a building we refuse to enter.