Security expert Abdikadir Dekow has challenged youth to rally themselves and take advantage of their numbers to demand better leadership in their localities.

Dekow, a UDA operative, said the youth in the country can push the country to greater heights if only they remain focused and have vision.

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“It is high time youth make their voice known either through seeking leadership positions themselves or by pushing one of their own who will be loyal to them,” the former security officer said.

Speaking to the Star on Friday, Dekow said young people should learn resilience and ambition from President William Ruto’s story from a chicken seller to the Presidency.

Young people, he said, are today afraid to get their hands dirty and only look for the diminishing white caller jobs despite being many opportunities to earn a living through other jobs.

“Today, there are many opportunities in the creative economy where young people can earn decent money.

“These are opportunities that are there for the taken, and things have been made easier through the many funds set up by the government where they can take loans and grants,” Dekow said.

Sports too, has become an avenue where one can earn through their own talent, with the government setting structures to harness these talents.

He said without taking advantage of such creativity, opportunities and efforts, youth will be frustrated and end up being misused by politicians or resort to a life of crime.

Goonism, Dekow said, has been created by idle youth being available to be misused because they have not done anything meaningful with their talents, opportunities, and lives.

“Whenever you see goons, it is always young people involved. This is because anyone who is hungry is vulnerable to misuse,” he said.

On the broad-based arrangement, Dekow said many people have not understood the reasoning behind it.

He said the arrangement was meant to bring inclusivity so that Kenya benefits from ideas from different people.

“There are many people who want positions so they can implement their ideas, which may be brilliant ones. But not all those who have brilliant ideas get the opportunity to be elected so as to implement them.

“Thus, President William Ruto felt it was important to have these people who are not lucky to be elected into positions but have brilliant ideas to bring them close so those brilliant ideas can be implemented through his administration. This way, it is a win-win situation,” Dekow said.

He said many people think President Ruto came up with the idea to win his second term.

“That is not it. The President will definitely have his two terms. Everybody in the world knows that a mother has two breasts to feed a child.

“The President has already fed us with one breast. Now he needs to feed us through the second breast,” Dekow said.

The political operative, who has trained his eyes on the Nyali MP seat, has criticized the zoning idea being propagated by the ODM party under the broad-based arrangement.

He said zoning violates the constitution which guarantees every Kenyan the right to seek an elective post anywhere in the country.

“It violates the civic rights of every Kenyan who wants a particular person to be their leader in a particular area.

“You cannot shove into my throat a leader who I do not like because they are in a particular party. I must be given an opportunity to vote for the leader I want,” Dekow said.

He said the propagators of zoning are cowards who fear competition for their seats.

INSTANT ANALYSIS:

About 67 per cent of Kenyan youth are either unemployed or underemployed, creating a dangerous pool of energy ready for the taking by any individual with money. This creates the problem of goonism in politics because youth become desperate are will do anything to earn that shilling.