 Welkom back, we are back to this segment Youth and Politics and as I promised you, we are going to talk about politics and pertaining young people in specific, the young people who want to buy in various political posts and you hear people saying that elections this year is going to be about the youth. They are saying so because they are saying it's about the youth as in the older people buying so that they can help the youth. So the narrative or the question is can't the youth buy for themselves, guess those leadership positions and then help themselves like directly youths for youths or youths helping other youths or youths getting to top positions and which positions should youths gets to. Today I am in studio with some too exciting people, two people, very young people who are not going for MCS, not going for MP, not going for women rep but going for the top county seats and that is senatorial seat and gubernatorial seat believe you me. And not anywhere, one Nairobi and one Migori. It means one is going to replace, if they went replace Senator Sakaja and the other is going to replace Governor Obado. And these two young people are here with me. Hi you guys. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Oh it's still Happy New Year. Yes. You are welcome to Y-54. So I am giving you this time to introduce yourself. I know you are Sorango Tang. The last time you were here you were in this social service and it's been a while. That is like three years. Oh three years down the line. Yes that was in 2018. Yes. Now tell people who you really are and why you are here. First of all thank you for recognizing that this transition from the last time I was here to now. Yes. I think that is some progress. Yes. So by name I am Byron Oko Ginga and I come from Migori County and I look forward to succeeding Okotobado. So I am also glad to be back at Y-254 after three years. Yes. Yes. You are social media handles maybe and maybe what you do now? I have been doing a lot of consultancy, political consultancy but right now I am doing it for myself. That is because right now as from mid February I will be purely or totally in politics down there. Yes. We are coming back to that. You have not said you are social media handle. So for those who are in Facebook my name is Byron Oko. Those are in Twitter at Ogingo Oko. On Instagram is Governor Byron Oko. Oh you just become governor in Instagram. I always believe whatever you confess you possess. Okay. We are also coming back to that. Okay. Just in. Yes. Welcome to Y-254. Thank you so much. You are just in Misoka. Yes. Tell people everything that you think you need to know about. Okay. Thank you so much for this opportunity. I am Justin Nyangonamisoka the senatorial aspirant in Nairobi County this year. I have worked with young people for very long. I am the founder and president of Yuta Pilkena. This is a national NGO that advocates for youth inclusion in social, political and economic spaces in the country. And also observed as the executive director of YALDA Youth Alliance for Leadership and Development in Africa. Headquartered in Gaborone Botswana whereby we bring young people and we connect them to mentors. And also at the same time I represent young people at the African Union at the APRM, African Peer Review Mechanism in South Africa. So we articulate matters of young people. Okay. You have so many things. Yes. And you hate you. So you have told me you are 20. I am 28 years old. 28 years old. You are not yet a third floor. You still are the second floor. Yes. The number eight. Yes. You have done so many things. You have achieved so many things. There are organizations you founded. Organizations you have led. International organizations. You tell young people why you moved this first. One is commitment. And I do have a passion for young people. Especially in serving and also articulating their issues. For a long time young people have lagged behind in terms of representation. And we need the same young people to speak the language of young people. So this is what motivates me to engage these young people and to serve and to work for them. Okay. Yes. Okay, that's nice. Let's come back to you byron. Yes. What have you achieved in life apart from you wanting to be a governor? Why do you think you have? What have you done that now has motivated you to vie for Gubernati? Yes. I think I'll correct you. It is not about what I've done. It is what I intend to do to change the society. Because maybe things I've done cannot guarantee or cannot equate me running for governorship. But I want to tell you categorically that when it comes to migori politics, I have played a major role. What have you played? In the first election, the most vibrant youths who played a role in his election and even in his re-election. Did he reward you? It is not a matter of reward. Did he reward you? Yes or no? No. Okay, now go on. So it is not a matter of reward because most of the time, at that time for me it was the better option as compared to other candidates. But later on you realize that when you support somebody and you don't really merge into his ambitions or into his visions, you find your way out. And since I didn't see much of what I believed in, I stepped out as early as he was swerding into office. So I realized, okay fine, I can come back and do this. And that's why I'm presenting myself this time around so that I take it from where he's living it. And also to implement some of the things that we discussed at personal level that he never even attempted touching on. So when you back to your question, when you ask me about track records that qualify somebody to office, we've seen, we've been electing these guys, most of these current leaders on track records. But once in office these track records, they sublime. The personality changes because now the track records that we elected them to office with, we don't see them anymore. So as a youth who believes in the power of the youth and who believes that transformation of the society doesn't belong to a certain category of people to leaders, I'm encouraging all youths that if 2022 is going to help us determine the destiny of this country, from where we come from, from the words to the national level, then it is our pure mandate to ensure that we participate vibrantly and elect those who are going to put us as a step forward. You know why I'm asking, Nishoka, why I'm asking about in what years that all jobs in Kenya, almost all jobs if you are applied, they need experience. Let me ask you Kaisu, I'm a student of politics. That is what I studied, political science and public administration. And you realize whatever you are asking right now, experience and ABCD, so many times have they qualified, little experience people have been kicked out. And why these, because even if my friend here is going for senatorial position, to an extent we don't know his capacity once in office. But most of the time people lock others out of bias and out of political euphoria that at the end of the day doesn't substantiate whatever they thought they were. Look at Sanko for example. So can we give the little ones who are qualified first by education because I'm very sure he has gone under rigorous training to have the courage to step forward, to go for Senate, same to me. Because if elected today as a governor, I'm not going to lead one man. I'm going to have a team of CEC members, a team of directors, a team of chief officers and even the assembly to counter check on me as the governor. So it is not about experience because look at it Kaisu from what we've seen even here in Nairobi. When people were looking at Meguna, it was seen as somebody who has never contested for office but later on we realized that he was the best person for that office because those who he was competing with had some political history that we thought they could go and deliver but later on we realized they were not the same people anymore. One they were incompetent, two they were simple PR shows that could not really transform the lives of people in Nairobi. So when it comes to experience, let us look at it from a different dimension that so and so is coming to buy for Migori governorship or so and so is coming to replace Sakaja in Nairobi. What vision do you have for the people of Migori or what vision do you have differently from what Sakaja gave us as a package and if it is like that do you understand your role as a governor or do you understand your role as a senior? So from there we see how we transition. Okay, I get you. Talk about this experience too. It's the main thing where youths are being curtailed. Like if you want to deny a youth something or some job we will talk, do you have 30 years experience? You are 28 so 30 years experience means somebody who started working way back before you were born. Yes. So what I say, young people have experience. The experience that they don't have is the experience of stealing the experience of looting public funds and so on. You know getting to elective post be it senator be it governor first as a senator you are oriented by the Kenya School of Government. And after that we do have some training by the Parliamentary Service Commission. So at the end of the day all of you are the same. Yes. You understand legislations. I will also made you know oversight and so on. So the issue of experience is just you know to curtail young people from getting to to politics. So I should not be asking you what you are doing. The way I asked or I am not asking. So I should not be asking you for achievement. By the way do you have some achievements as just you? Yes, I have done a lot especially for young people and I tell fellow aspirants if you want to be elected you need to tell us something about you. Yes. I was in university. Yes. I did this. You know I will continue doing this unit to have a history of leadership and service to community. Yes. Personally we do have an informal settlement in Langata in Langata called Kuwinda. We set there a community library and at the moment we are serving over 500 students and pupils in the neighbouring area. In Dandora we engaged young people in matters you know respecting the rule of law and we took the legal aid clinics in Dandora. So you have just done a lot. Yes. We have had a number of them. Orangu you said when I asked you what you have done you said you helped the governor get this issue. Yes. What I have done is I always like keeping things to To yourself. To not to myself because at the end of the day the public will also ask. Yes. So when it comes to Miigori I haven't done much for Miigori but I have done so much because in the last five years I have been in Nairobi offering my consultancy services to Nairobi but I think some of these policies have been touching on they trickled down to Miigori in one way or another because for some few the last consultancy I did was with Plan International and it was about the girl child there and how to protect the girl child and ABCD so it is a lot but particularly when it comes to Miigori Miigori is highly dynamic when it comes to politics and even right now that we are entering into an electioneering period but particularly I have a lot of achievements that really for this show but they are there my main reason for getting to this is to affirm that you have done something and therefore you can also do further you can these seats you are aspiring to occupy you can deliver once given so that can be evidence is there any other evidence that you can maybe deliver what can show the public that when you are given this seat let me just interject my friend has done a lot for the area he is coming from I had started seeing the vision for Miigori County when I was a student leader down there or you were a student leader down there in Rongo so I have been there I have interacted with people there I have seen what they want I even did my internship at the office of the governor and I saw how things were being done and I even tried to change some of the things how they were being done so if it is achievement first just getting into leadership itself because leadership is a lot it is a lot it comes with a lot of challenges, expectations and what I want to thank myself for is all the governor's parents whom I am going to face in one way or another I have worked with them because when I was a student leader I worked with Honora Bodalmas when I was the area MP at that time I was a student leader I worked with Governor Bado I worked with Madame Denis Targati I worked with Pamelo Di Amo so all these people have worked with them so but I don't see something tangible they are coming back with that is really going to transform the lives of the people meaning you have learnt from them the better things you can do for them Justin don't you think you are too young for this no no you know young people should not be the campaign merchants singing in political campaigns and so on they must come to the table of leadership and in the table of leadership you are not invited you demand your space you demand your space by coming out and contesting for the position that you want to go for and in Kenya 60% of the population in this country are young people but that is not reflected in positions of leadership be it elective or appointive so we need to get young people to come out to buy for various seats and also another thing our future is at stake things are not going right in this country our economy is in its place and the people who are suffering most are young people a lot of young people are unemployed and people who are going to solve these things they are the same young people given the positions of leadership and governance they are going to solve those issues a question that I want both of you to answer about why you chose to go for the biggest post one of the biggest posts in the country that you tried for MCF first or you MCF first immediately finish a sensory you should also tell me like I know Miguri county it starts from Samuia Kondo Papu to as far as Sirare Boda where Tanzania and Kenya meet with how many words 40 words Nairobi how many words 85 words very big, very vast big big posts let me tell you Kaisu like you understand now every other person is going to buy from MCA to govern a ship even to seen it will say I am going to transform your life I am going to do this for you but the truth is do they have resources to do that so what I saw if I want to change the level of the people if I want to touch something you go where there is resources so that if you are given you want to control the resources you cannot transform life of anybody if you don't have resources or if you don't have the means to do so so one thing why I am going for governorship is to go and do what I think I can do when I have that resource because at the end of the day no leadership position right now as we speak can we talk about it without a resource that is the truth if you look at what governors are doing I think there are things that even you can do and we can even do as a young person we don't understand the issues affecting the youths I can do it better for example the first schedule of the constitution as I lighted functions of the county so clearly but you realize to date Miguri County we don't have even a newly constructed polytechnic we don't have in and if you know because I know you also come from down there have you seen or do you know any that has been newly constructed whereby our youths can go there and acquire skills after acquiring skills they now absorb them into the market system where they can now utilize the skills they have acquired zero you have answered me so you is to control the resources so that you can help young people it is not true it is not to control the resources it is to utilize the resources effectively to transform the society because right now as we speak there is a lot that has been wasted in corruption there is a lot that cannot be accounted for so if that is happening it is our duty as the youths to rise up and at least challenge corruption and also offer an alternative leadership we don't just deal with them by I see most of these youth are carried away here if somebody gives them a thousand and you go and hackle somebody what's that in the next few months or in the next few years how is that going to help you we are coming back to this heckling thing we are coming back to it tell us why you are choosing this such a big state you have said the expectation outside here is for young people to go for MCA positions and we did have a joke in social media that you should not cause chaos in public because you can easily eat an MCA because there are very many of them and the main reason that I am going for Senate in particular in Nairobi things are at a mess for the last 5 years the county assembly of Nairobi has been fighting they have never made any legislation any important legislation affecting Nairobians for the last 10 years the county government of Nairobi has been given 100 billion but there is nothing to show off that the work of the senator is to oversight those funds it's like you know the habitat in the county to bring the governor the county assembly and the speaker together at the table our two senators who have been there they have failed in their responsibility and devolution is very key in this county and Nairobi 100% of the role of government has been devolved be it health be it wasted water so on and so forth and this is the work of the senator to ensure things are working in the county and that's what motivated me you say are you going to fix our senator are you going to fix now the rangos at the city it's simple you are like a mediator yes you call the MCS you tell them stop fighting the speakers you listen to them and you know you mediate with them and you ensure they are doing their role the governor is doing his role I think what has always affected the seniority or personality complex that if somebody is elected a senator he sees himself senior to the governor and ABCD but I like the aspect he has brought of mediating because it is lacking in the current leadership whereby people can sit down delegate and have a consensus about these issues if that is done then we are running a country I am still on the vastness in the county at your edges do I say at our edges do we still have that money to campaign in a vast geographical area like me go or in such a popular area like me how about campaign maybe you can go he wants you to start you know what I have realized when I came to direct to politics it is a very expensive affair and the big boys have spoiled for us they have given manis right left and center like Nairobi with 17 constituencies 85 words it is very vast very very vast you know you get young people who don't have you know a financial muscle to run an effective campaigns and these blocks young people from getting into politics at the end of the day because they are afraid and I have engaged with people in the streets and they are telling me one thing for us to vote for you because we know you are going and you are not deliver because of what has happened we need money you buy us and he is telling to normalizer but at the moment we want to change the narrative tell me how by one ensuring we sell our ideologies and also our manifesto to the electorates because at the end of the day if somebody buys they are going to recover that money for the 5 years they will not serve you they will not serve your interests at the end of the day so we want the electorates to vote for people based on their ideologies based on their agenda it is not on the depth of the pockets I have not talked about maybe voter bribing I am just talking about maybe we will get back to that but I am talking about the vastness the population of county there are so many people for them to vote for you you must talk to almost everyone so you have to move a lot and meet so many people you can maybe pay for those meetings on the halls failing campaign vehicles do young people know that is what is kateling most youth from life because they don't have this money do we have do you like you let's get to just team ready to move and meet every voter in Nairobi and convince them to vote for you yes I am ready because when you get to politics financially ready you are friends who see the value and they come on board they sponsor your campaigns and also you have some people that we have worked with they volunteer in your campaigns excellent tell me about you you are castigating I am not castigating you making sure that you are ready for this before you step into a senior position like the one I want to plan and know your capacity so if you ask me am I prepared yes I am prepared and sometimes some of these dreams or some of these positions not everything is about money sometimes you only have to tell the people but what matters is how do you tell the people this is what I want and what do you want why do you want it you understand so I like the aspect that you have touched on there are people who when you converse with them you have a conversation with them why you want this and why you think you are the best then they just come in and say ok fine for me I will do this for you right now it is not for tomorrow but right now so this is it so when sometimes money becomes the scary issue then you can forego a very important thing and I also believe that if you block yourself to the fear of not having then when will you have yes you block yourself first because if I say running for governor there needs like 85 million I am not worth that 85 million so when will I if I don't start and talk to the people and I remain under the fear of not having the 85 million to run a well good campaign automatically lock myself when the truth is if I move past the fear of not having maybe I am the one so I am not going to that is a it is a good aspect to look at in politics but it is also on the other side not good enough to lock yourself without reaching out I was telling him about the need to meet everybody you know the geographical vastness of the county kaisu if you ask some good running for mca they will tell you it is big and it is engaging and it is starsome are you going to meet all the voters I will talk to them personally you can never talk to each and every person but the thing is according even to the constitution the popular vote you will be announced the senator after gaining or gathering popular votes so the thing is for us to win you must reach at least a majority so in that majority they will decide but if you want to meet like Mibori now right now we are close to 1.2 million voters you can meet like that will be some but we propose that at least every electorate must know what is going to whom is going to vote to vote the main aim of this show is to convince or inspire young person out there that whether they have resources or not they can make it so how can we convince like what can we tell the youth how to reach people maybe without necessarily going to see each and every person organizing those vast rallies is there a way a young person can talk to a voter but not necessarily going to see them I believe it is it is possible technology has made it very possible like most people nowadays that in social media we find our mothers there but again if you go down there even in Nairobi we have radio stations just talk to people but again I once worked with a doctor called Dr. Nyawadi in plan international he says that just start even if you feel unworthy just start you never know just start and the moment I shared with this guy this Dr. Nyawadi I realized that this sum of this thing it is as you block us from and that's why if you bring the aspect of money these people know these people I call them they know that one thing they fear talents two they fear competition so the only thing that they have they also fear young people so the only thing they have is money that they use but once he said it once they go they'll pluck it back okay let's talk about parties which party are you going on which party tickets so at the moment I'm going independent which party are you going on I'm still pursuing to vibe with Jubilee oh still you are not settled when I say I'm pursuing means I'm a member of Jubilee party and I'm looking for to vibe with Jubilee party now tell me the popular party in Nyanza is ODM you are not buying on ODM I want to know the reason why you are not going to the popular party and you also be prepared to tell us why you are going independent when there are hundreds and hundreds of parties in Kenya I think that is a fallacy because Miguori first of all it is cosmopolitan and I want to tell you that if you look yes it is ODM dominated zone but right now things have changed in terms of voter preference and even party politics because if you look right now UDA is in Miguori they are going governor as is PDP and there is a lot of parties and I'm also joining the race with the Jubilee ticket if God willing I win the ticket the nomination slot so I want to tell you that if we remain under the yoke of ODM dominated then if you go where there is that ODM criteria whereby now you just join the party this other day and you want to buy for this wait for so and so because there has been in the party for so long do you understand what I'm trying to talk about and that is also fear because if it is ODM dominated zone does it lock other people from participating because it is an ODM zone or why do I have a feeling that you just fear just laying for the party ticket I don't fear anybody I want the ODM guys to bring their candidate the UDA guys to bring their candidate and also me from Jubilee God willing we go together we say it to another angle is it easy to get ODM ticket in Midori to buy government it is not easy I saw it twice when I was with governor I know what it takes to win an ODM ticket and I don't want that stress so why didn't you just say that you don't want to because you see sometimes it is embarrassing it is so embarrassing for us I am one it is embarrassing and you are still young I have started crying but I have been denied I don't want to be crying child just tell us why you are not going for any party first and foremost you know the way you said we are not afraid for any competition in any party we are more ready and willing as long as the nominations are free and fair but most of our parties in this country they don't have that openness and fairness like in Kenya at the moment the parties that we have they are owned by some few individuals and cartels so if you go to that party you don't expect justice at the end of the day I have been a member of a political party we started it we invested our time our resources in that particular party then in between we started seeing some issues about where do you come from being called by an executive director of our party and being asked we want to balance Nairobi we want to give the governor position a deputy governor a senator and a women rep and you get you are one of the candidates in the senatorial seat and they are saying they are going to give it to another tribe we want to balance Nairobi so you wonder what will happen if we go to nominations the answer is obvious the nominations will be rigged until I was told by somebody authoritative in the party just in what we will do just consider vying for an MC seat we will give you a ticket how did you feel intimidated I didn't feel intimidated you know you know political parties that's what you must know people win nominations most of them do not win it fair this guy told you that if you vying for MCA they will give you a ticket whether you win or not and I think you remember in 2017 Nairobi between Ruaraka MP and Elizabeth Ongora Ongora won the ODIM ticket in Ruaraka and she was told when you define go and look for another constituent we are going to give you a no-DM ticket in that new constituent I like what you wrote I like what you wrote you see in Vigori 2017 we saw Dr. Chilayako announcing himself but he has the valid ODIM certificate on the other side the governor was defending the seat also announcing himself but he has the ODIM ticket in that confusion tells you something about this party ticket nomination thing so in this case just imagine somebody telling you you started because me right now I have not imagined being an MCA then you want to coil me to go honestly even if it is our time is over think party politics is a whole thing that we need a whole hour to do because of the party democracies and all that this you see the thing is you live it be those party officials and those acting in the interest of the party we advise them to create an enabling environment for youths and also an enabling environment for newcomers because somebody can be an old dog but zero and I can be a newcomer and I push the party agenda forward better than the rest who have been there so let them create an enabling environment for all the youths and those who are joining the party ok let's talk now about girl child girls are also youths they are girls who are youths who are also very enthusiastic about politics the perception out there is that ladies don't know much about politics they don't want to get involved in it in fact during my introduction with the lady here was accused of like bringing the perception that girls are not there I have not seen girls coming out your age is coming out to buy for big seeds like you are buying on and I want you to from your own perspective from what you see maybe tell something to our sisters pertaining politics and if what they can do maybe to conquer they don't have the muscles that we have but sometimes maybe have the money we have many connections but I want you to encourage encourage somebody like Michelle to go for the presidency of Kenya or to go for the gubernatorial seat of I think she comes from Kiambo Kiambo yes that's why I do have a problem with this post women rep when it was introduced in 2013 our girls and our mothers rushed to the women repositions like in Nairobi before 2013 we used to have very strong women in peace Dagoreti in Kasarani, Westlands they were giving their male their male a lot of competitions so I want to tell our sisters despite the fact that in politics is a bit hard they face a lot of intimidation I've been sharing with other ladies they told me in the party they're being asked for sexual favors so that they can be given the tickets and so on so I want to encourage wherever they are decisions major decisions are made on the table of leadership despite the challenges despite the obstacles nothing is impossible as long as you have the will you have the determination and you have the passion you will overcome so the message is go for it I don't want to give you time to talk about he has finished it the message is home go for those positions I want your parting shot because this camera just say your parting shot the youth of this country and maybe you are giving it a shot one, as from today IBC is conducting mass registration I want to urge young people across the country and especially in Nairobi to come out in large numbers and register it is in registering and in voting that we are going to have a revolution and a ballot revolution is very very important because our stake as young people and also as a country is at stake just to summarize it all I said most of what I wanted to say like voter registration you cannot fail to participate in an election and expect a better country that is void number two I want to speak to the youth of this country that we be very careful about those we are going to elect into these various positions from the MCA to the presidency because if this country continues this way then we will have no country we will have failed states in number three to the people of Meguri who are watching this show I am urging you and encouraging you that whatever tool you have which I believe is the vote I look forward that you will cast it twice and will have the most vibrant county in Kenya good there is a paradigm shift from the time when youths were being told if I get I will do this for you do this for you as you've seen it youths are going for those positions they are going to be the people who are going to occupy these seats because they understand themselves they understand what youths go through in this country so they are going to be a fubu fubu means for us by us so if you are a youth out there and you feel like you can be a leader especially those who may be led like the two I have here you can lead a country you can lead a country you can lead a ward you can lead a constituency you can lead a whole county so if you feel like you can do it go for it those who can try those who like you cannot do it before you try so give it a shot be you a lady don't the row this has been youth and politics and next this is coming back with the talk of the day about youths and in january thank you