‘You Cannot Feign Ignorance!’ – Murkomen Blasts Uhuru After Youth Remarks
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has blamed Gen Z’s difficulties, like as unemployment and a lack of economic possibilities, on a failure to plan ahead.
Speaking at a meeting during his visit to the Upper Eastern area, Murkomen slammed retiring President Uhuru Kenyatta’s recent call for young to rise up and demand effective governance as misguided and dishonest.
According to him, prior leaders’ failure to plan ahead is the most significant obstacle that President William Ruto is currently confronting, with the youth seeking jobs and higher living conditions.
For example, Murkomen stated that the government is executing the Affordable Housing Program.
He argues that the initiative intends to promote access to housing, alleviate the housing gap, and improve living standards, particularly for low-income people.
JUKWAA LA USALAMA -EMBU COUNTY CHAPTER
— KIPCHUMBA MURKOMEN, E.G.H (@kipmurkomen) May 9, 2025
We have arrived in Embu Town for our 12th Jukwaa la Usalama town hall meeting. In today's program, we will hold a security meeting with the county security team, then assess service delivery at the Embu Regional Immigration Office and the… pic.twitter.com/vuo3GDtvIC
He stated that Kenya and other African countries face major economic issues as a result of the previous government’s unwillingness to open up businesses and expand manufacturing sectors in order to create jobs and stimulate growth.
“The reason we find ourselves in a situation where we have restless young people is the failure to plan a few years ago. The failure to plan 20-30 years ago for this population is the reason we are where we are..,” said Murkomen.
Murkomen stated that the Kenya Kwanza administration has established a plan to address youth unemployment, among other things.
He said: “When we now tell our young people to rise up and save your country, it is incumbent upon a person of the stature of a former President to first acknowledge that we failed in the past, that we failed to plan for you; therefore, forgive us.”
“You cannot feign ignorance that you are not part of those who created the problem bedevilling young people at the moment, so the first step is to acknowledge your failure,” he said.
“It is also important to tell the youth the truth, that as a nation, we must work harder, and contribute more to avoid us falling in the same pitfalls in another 20-30 years, and that will take a lot of sacrifice,” he said.
He urged politicians to cease misleading the youth for short-term political benefit.
“The current administration is trying to come up with a mechanism to address this problem and it comes with a sacrifice,” he said.
“What is this sacrifice, it comes in the form of Affordable Housing so that you can have build and correct the mistakes of the past and hand a better future for our young people.”
“When you tell them to rise up, you must also tell them it has a cost and the cost is more than just demonstrations, it means you must work and sweat, and those who have jobs must pay more; it involves taxes, so you expect balanced information,” he stated.
He challenged the retired president and other former leaders to show Kenyans what they accomplished for the youth while in government.
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“The message alone of telling the youth to rise up is unharmless but in the context of what role you have played over time,” he stated.
“I would expect a person in the level of a former President to say I did this and that or to say I know how difficult it is to cause changes in this sector so please support your president and government.”
Delivering the keynote address at the annual second Guild leaders’ Summit at Makerere University in Kampala recently, Uhuru asked the youth to embrace their role as the freedom fighters of this era.
“No one is coming to save us," Uhuru urges the youth to embrace their role as freedom fighters of this era. pic.twitter.com/zvZYm3HapZ
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) April 25, 2025
“You have the numbers, you have the time and energy to get involved and effect the changes you want,” he said.
‘You Cannot Feign Ignorance!’ – Murkomen Blasts Uhuru After Youth Remarks
