Murang'a villagers learn new jargon to resonate with Gen Z wave

The Gen Z-led protests that have been raging in the country for the past one month have come with a wave of language revolution at the village front where peasants are now citing new vocabularies and even learning new dance skills.

While in the past words like Zakayo (Zacchaeus) was only referenced in the church and in Christian Religious studies, for it is even rare to find someone baptized such, the village forks have been taught by the Gen Zs that it can also apply for someone in leadership who loves taxes and more taxes.

The youthful generation in their agitation for a better governance agenda from the government have also taught the village folks to correctly pronounce words like “Finance Bill” and also understand that it is an annual document that determines how citizens are to be taxed to finance the annual budget.

Ms Margaret Njambi,70, from Murang’a County, famously known as ‘Shosh wa Ruto’, said that courtesy of the Gen Z wave, she has come to know the existence of musical tracks like “Gotha Tena” by artist Breeder as well as “Anguka Nayo” by Jabidii, Moji Shortbabaa, and Timeless Noel.

“As I laboured hard to understand why these kids were protesting, I came to know about “Gotha Tena” being a cryptic message of “hit it again” while “Anguka Nayo” mostly means that we pursue at whatever cost what we aspire for,” Ms Njambi said.

Ms Sasida Njeri,75, said she had all along known that “Katiba” is the one that rules the country “but these children made me aware that Katiba in English is “Constitution” since in their media interviews, they would keep on mentioning it". 

She added that her basic education many years ago did not teach her about words like “sovereign power” which, according to her, have become monotonous in the debates surrounding the protests.

“I today feel like I attained quality, modern education since I can use the words like “integrity” and also know there is something called “recall clause” that deals with sacking those elected leaders who have failed to deliver as per our aspirations. I also know that there are things called impeachment, vetting and coalition government. Most importantly, I have come to know that there are generations that define ringer mates away from the clans that I have known all along,” she said.

Ms Njeri said her grandchild called Virginia Wanja is the one who taught her about GI generation (born between 1901 and 1927, Silent Generation (1928-1945), Baby boom Generation (1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1980), Generation Y (1981-1996), Gen Z (1997-2010) and Generation Alpha (2010-2024).

National Democratic Congress Youths’ chairperson Ms Gladys Njoroge observed that "if there was good governance’s civic education that has been unleashed deep in the grassroots targeting those who did not get the privilege of ‘elitist education’, then it came packaged in these Gen Zs’ protests”.

"It excites my heart to hear the village folks also saying such and such leader needs to be accorded “salamu” (greetings), which is Gen Zs' version of saying a bad leader needs to be pressurised by physical visits to be reminded of the covenant he or she has with the people who elected them into office,” Mr Njoroge said.

Outside Murang'a, AVDelta News interacted with Mr Nuru Okanga who is a political activist of the opposition outfit Azimio.

"I am a happy man that today I can hear many who previously had no passion for politics, governance and constitutional right to picket can effortlessly articulate themselves around hard words like opulence, dictatorship, demagoguery, public debt and austerity measures,” Mr Okanga said.

Mr Okanga confessed that he is among the key beneficiaries of an enriched vocabulary owing to the protests and he has also come to grab a few slogans that he will be using in his public speeches.