A section of Mt Kenya youth has launched a political movement seeking to challenge the region’s established political order and empower young people to independently determine their political future ahead of the 2027 General Election.
Operating under the banner of Sauti ya Vijana Movement, the lobby group says it will mobilise Gen Z and millennial voters across Mt Kenya and the rest of the country to make independent political choices rather than follow political declarations by established regional leaders, popularly known as kingpins.
The movement held a rally at Ruiru Stadium in Kiambu county on Sunday, where its leaders announced plans to rally young people behind candidates seeking various elective positions and promote political choices free from the influence of established leaders.
Speaking to The Star, movement leader Isaac Mungai, popularly known as Kijana Msafi, said the initiative seeks to challenge the traditional perception that seasoned politicians should determine the political direction of their regions.
He said young people should assume the role of political kingpins by leveraging their numbers to influence leadership choices and determine who governs the country after the 2027 elections.
“We are uniting all the Gen Z and millennials to speak up in one voice and decide about their future as we approach forming a new government. In any voting bloc across all the regions, we are over 70 per cent, so we command the majority, and that’s why we are saying ‘Sisi ndio Kingpins’ because we have the power to determine who will be the next president. We will sell the idea, and Gen Z and millennials will subscribe to it,” said Mungai.
Mungai said the movement would support young people seeking various elective positions but ruled out a personal bid for political office.
“I am not vying for any political position, but I will be on the frontline to support my fellow youth,” he said.
He described Sauti ya Vijana as politically non-aligned, saying it would champion the election of accountable and transformative leaders regardless of their party affiliations.
“Our aim is to ensure leaders elected are accountable,” he said.
The movement’s launch comes as political leaders and parties begin positioning themselves ahead of the 2027 General Election, with Mt Kenya emerging as a key battleground in the contest for political influence and voter support.
Kenya’s Constitution, under Article 260, defines youth as people aged between 18 and 35. The country has an estimated 13.7 million people in this age bracket, representing about 29 per cent of the total population.
The broader demographic picture further underscores the potential influence of young people in national affairs, with estimates suggesting that between 75 and 80 per cent of Kenyans are below the age of 35.
Sauti ya Vijana says its immediate priority is to unite young people across political and regional boundaries, promote independent decision-making and support leaders who demonstrate accountability, irrespective of the parties they represent.
However, political analyst James Kihara said the movement would need substantial resources and political goodwill to fulfil its objectives.
“This is a good initiative. However, the movement will need a lot of resource mobilisation to achieve its goal. We have seen past initiatives such as Youth for Kanu 1992 (YK’92). They only succeeded after heavy resource mobilisation,” he said.
