Kenyan artists have urged politicians to desist from using the youth to foment electoral chaos

The artists spoke ahead of the release of a track dubbed JIACTIVATE later today and the

impending launch of the JIACTIVATE Youth Declaration. The artists called on political leaders to

make a commitment towards building a society that recognizes the youth as dominant

stakeholders in the nation’s future.

The artists, Nick Mutuma, Fena Gitu and Redfourth Chorus have joined an ongoing nationwide

campaign dubbed JIACTIVATE to encourage youth to actively participate in politics and lobby

for policy making that is friendly to the youth agenda.

Fena who is known such hit songs such as ‘African King’ and ‘They Don’t Know’ together with

the Redfourth Chorus will mobilize youth to be part of the movement working towards forming a

youth declaration to be presented to all political parties ahead of the elections.

“Undoubtedly, social instability and increase of crime, mainly in urban but increasingly also in

rural areas are often attributed to economic marginalization of the youth. Our quest is to build a

just and more inclusive society where the youth are dominant stakeholders in the nation’s future”

said Nick Mutuma, one of the proponents of JIACTIVATE.

Though Kenya is demographically a young nation; with 78 percent of the Kenyan population

under 35 years of age, the youth have largely remained marginalized in political decision

making and policy formulation.

Inspired by the belief that Kenya’s greatest resource is its youthful population, the musicians are

composing a song on the issues affecting young people across the country, in their quest draw

the youth into the political decision making orbit.

The song is set to be released mid June 2017 and will form part of the theme in the JIACTIVATE

campaign. "As a musician who aims at inspiring society through my music, my quest is to

encourage the youth not to resign themselves to the disempowering notion that politics is for a

chosen few. The youth can judiciously vet and elect representatives their interests at heart,” says

Fena Gitu.

“The idea is to transform Kenyan youth into active ambassadors in their communities and to

encourage to shun electoral violence. Youths have to be involved and it goes beyond elections,

or forming a declaration. There must be reciprocity between the youth and the leaders we

elect,” Said Redfourth Chorus Music Chairman, Philip ‘Filah’ Tuju.

As an indication of their commitment to the campaign’s goals, young Kenyans are encouraged

to sign up on the official JIACTIVATE website page: https://jiactivate.org/ and declare their

messages about the ideal Kenya they want to see.