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Kenya – Youth Political Participation

#Research on Youth Political Participation

Kenya is a democratic country located in the eastern part of Africa, sharing a coastline with the Indian Ocean. The country gained independence in 1963 and embraced a multiparty system. Kenya is a multi-ethnic country endowed with an enviable topography and landscape. With a total population of over 53 million people, the East African country has an active youth population, which plays a significant role in its socio-political and economic stability. Youth currently account for 75% of Kenya’s population, while also making up 55% of the country’s labour force1. While young people are historically active in Kenya’s public affairs, the country recorded a 5.27% drop in the number of young voters in its 2022 general elections compared with the 2017 elections. Many analysts blamed this unusual drop on economic hardship and widespread corruption in the country’s governance system. Additionally, the country experienced a nationwide youth protest over the increasing cost of living in 2023. Despite the obvious political and economic instability in the country, young people remain an important stakeholder in Kenya.

Understanding youth-focused policies and initiatives

The Kenya Youth Development Policy (KYDP): The Kenya Youth Development Policy (KYDP) is the official policy document that outlines government plans regarding youth issues. The first Kenya National Youth Policy was adopted in 2006, followed by the current Kenya Youth Development Policy, which was adopted in 2019. The current KYDP draws ideas from over 12 national policy frameworks and more than 5 international policy frameworks, such as the African Union (AU) Youth Charter, the UN Youth Strategy, and the AU Agenda 2063. The primary objective of the KYDP is to address “issues affecting the youth, notably employment creation, health, education, sports, and recreation, environment, art and culture, partnership, and empowerment2”. The KYDP also presents the government’s plans to meaningfully integrate youth into public affairs in Kenya, while also empowering them to significantly contribute to the country’s development agenda. In particular, the 2019 KYDP presents 14 strategic priorities of the Kenyan government regarding youth development in the country3. More importantly, it outlines the significant roles of young people in achieving Kenya Vision 20304, the country’s long-term development plan, as well as additional developmental priorities. 

Constitutional affirmative action: One of the most important legislative frameworks regarding Kenya’s efforts to meaningfully integrate youth into politics, the Kenyan 2010 Constitution provides a legal framework that supports increased youth participation in politics. It provides quotas for youth representation in elective positions, both at the federal and county levels. Specifically, Articles 55(a) and 55(b) read as follows: “the State shall take measures, including affirmative action programmes, to ensure that the youth – (a) access relevant education and training; (b) have opportunities to associate, be represented and participate in political, social, economic and other spheres of life5”. The Kenyan affirmative action framework mandates 12 parliamentary seats should be reserved for representatives nominated by political parties to represent special interests, including youth and persons with disabilities (PWD). Affirmative action also prioritised the inclusion of women in politics, noting that “not more than two-thirds of the members of elective or appointive bodies should be of the same gender6”.

Policy Implementation

Devolution of Governance: In a bid to bring governance closer to the people at the grassroots, the Kenyan 2010 Constitution mandates devolution of governance to counties, leading to the creation of 47 counties’ governance structures, including county assemblies and county ministries. This constitutional provision opens up opportunities for young people to access political positions at the local level and aligns with objectives 2 and 8 of the Kenyan Youth Development Policy, which focus on “transformative leadership and representation” and “active youth engagement7”. For instance, as of 2022, the youth constitute 19% of parliamentarians in the county assemblies – 281 men and 24 women out of 1450 elected members8. Kennedy Kimeu, the Prevention Coordinator at Awareness Against Human Trafficking (HAART) Kenya, further affirmed that the devolution significantly increased youth inclusion in Kenyan politics, especially at the county level. However, he also mentioned that “many youth political appointments are somewhat tokenistic, as these youth usually do the bidding of the older politicians and do not necessarily represent the youth voices9”.

Political parties as drivers of youth inclusion into politics: In implementing the Article 55(b) affirmative action of the Kenyan constitution, political parties serve as an avenue for the youth to meaningfully participate in political affairs, particularly by holding elective positions. As highlighted in the Political Parties Act 2011, only political parties can give young people the legitimacy to participate or contest in elections, as well as receive funding support for the purposes of campaigning10. Specifically, it is only through political parties that youth can be nominated to contest for elective positions at both national and county levels. As of 2022, young people comprise 35% of the total membership of political parties in Kenya, significantly increasing their participation in politics, either through holding elective positions or influencing political parties’ choice of candidates. Political parties are also integrating youth candidacy into their plans by reducing the fee for the candidacy form. Despite this development, findings still reveal that nomination from political parties is not solely based on merit, and often, it is dependent on affiliation with older politicians. This is the reason why Kimeu noted that “we have several beautiful and well-articulated policy documents in Kenya, the only problem is implementation”11.

Funding Support and Opportunities for Youth-led Initiatives: To implement its youth development policies, the Kenyan government is also providing funded and non-funded opportunities for young people. This implementation approach aligns with objectives 7 and 9 of the KYDP12. The Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) programme aims to allow enterprises and initiatives run by youth, women, and PWDs to participate in government procurement opportunities. AGPO mandates a legal requirement for young people to access 30% of government procurement, providing opportunities for youth-owned businesses to thrive13. The Youth Enterprise Development Fund is another funding scheme to support youth-led innovations and social enterprises, helping them meaningfully contribute to the country’s economic growth, while also supporting the government’s development agenda, including green innovations. Official figures reveal that more than 1 million youth have benefitted from this programme14. Despite the criticisms surrounding the funding programmes, they represent the efforts of the government to promote objectives 3, 7, and 9 of the KYDP.

Key Successes

Increasing Youth Participation in Public Affairs: Despite the clear socio-economic challenges in Kenya, young people are becoming more aware of the need to engage in public affairs. In politics, the KYDP and governance devolution have increasingly paved the way for young people to join political parties and hold elective positions at both national and county levels. With these policies and programmes, Kenyan youth are joining political parties and disrupting governance, especially at the county level. Young people constitute 6.5% of the Kenyan 12th parliament, both at the senate and the national assembly, and 19% at the county assemblies15. However, young people’s participation in elections remains relatively low in the country. Despite this voting apathy, young people in Kenya are still driving several civic engagements, including promoting issues of human rights, calling for accountability, and addressing climate change, among others. In general, the Kenyan Constitution and the NYP have created a fertile environment for young people to meaningfully engage in public affairs.

Increasing Number of Youth-led Organisations: Another significant success from Kenya’s youth-focused policies and programmes is that many young people are seeing the need to contribute to the government’s development agenda – such as Kenya Vision 2030, and the Big 4 Agenda. Thus, young people are setting up small businesses, non-profit organisations, research firms, and pressure groups. With a focus on several thematic areas, young people are at the forefront of holding the government accountable on issues of good governance, climate change, human rights, and corruption, among others. Young people are forging strong partnerships with intergovernmental organisations and UN agencies to address local issues in the country. With the AGPO and the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, youth have access to funding support from the government to run their small-scale businesses, further encouraging many young people to come up with innovative ideas. However, Hannah, an aspiring youth politician in Kenya, noted that “many youth-led initiatives are largely motivated by the day-to-day challenges of young Kenyans and not really government policies16”.

This case country is taken from a comprehensive examination of successful youth-led policy initiatives drawing from the insights of a scoping study “A comparative analysis on National Youth Policies”.

Read the full scoping study on Youth Political Participation here

This study is supported by a European Union-funded project called WYDE Civic Engagement led by EPD that aims to improve the inclusion of Youth in all levels of democratic participation at the national, regional and global scales.  The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and should not be considered as representative of the European Commission’s official position

  1. Victor Abuso, “Kenya: How will the low number of young voters play out in August?,” June 23, 2022, https://www.theafricareport.com/216515/kenya-2022-elections-how-will-the-low-number-of-young-registered-voters-play-out/. ↩︎
  2.  Republic of Kenya, “Kenya Youth Development Policy, 2019,” 2019, https://youth.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Kenya-Youth-Development-Policy-2019-Popular-version.pdf. ↩︎
  3. Ibid ↩︎
  4. Kenya Vision 2030 represents a set of socio-economic and political aspirations and development priorities that the Kenyan government seeks to achieve by 2030. Read more at: https://nairobi.aics.gov.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Kenya-Vision-2030.pdf ↩︎
  5. Republic of Kenya, “Constitution of Kenya, 2010,” http://kenyalaw.org/lex/actview.xql?actid=Const2010. ↩︎
  6. The Carter Center, “Youth and Women’s Consultations on Political Participation Findings and Recommendations,” 2018, https://www.cartercenter.org/resources/pdfs/news/peace_publications/democracy/kenya-youth-and-women-political-participation-report.pdf.
    ↩︎
  7. Republic of Kenya, “Kenya Youth Development Policy, 2019,” 2019, https://youth.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Kenya-Youth-Development-Policy-2019-Popular-version.pdf. ↩︎
  8. Beverline Ongaro, “Beyond Polemics and Political Obscurity to Meaningful Political Participation by the Kenyan Youth,” International Commission of Jurists, May 7, 2022, https://icj-kenya.org/news/beyond-polemics-and-political-obscurity-to-meaningful-political-participation-by-the-kenyan-youth/. ↩︎
  9.  Interview with Kennedy Kimeu, Prevention Coordinator, Haart Kenya ↩︎
  10. Kenya. The Political Parties Act, 2011, Act, Kenya Law Reports, 2011. http://kenyalaw.org/kl/fileadmin/pdfdownloads/Acts/PoliticalPartiesAct.pdf ↩︎
  11. Interview with Kennedy Kimeu ↩︎
  12. Kenya Youth Development Policy, Ibid ↩︎
  13. The National Treasury and Economic Planning, “Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO),” https://www.treasury.go.ke/agpo/.
    ↩︎
  14. Alice Waithera, “Over 1 million benefit from Youth Enterprise Fund,” The Star, February 3, 2021, https://www.the-star.co.ke/counties/central/2021-02-03-over-1-million-benefit-from-youth-enterprise-fund/. ↩︎
  15. Beverline Ongaro, “Beyond Polemics and Political Obscurity to Meaningful Political Participation by the Kenyan Youth,” International Commission of Jurists, May 7, 2022, ↩︎
  16. Interview with Hannah, a youth political aspirant in Kenya ↩︎