Siasa Place Kenya

Time to step up – By Gravice Luvuga

Good morning, I know many might be wondering why to specify the time to the morning when we all are going to go through this article at different times of the day or night. Actually, this is not a Good morning call indicating its morning but rather a wake-up call to the young people who for long we’ve been in slumber.

Time to wake up from the deep slumber of sitting back and letting our beloved Nation be driven anyhow while we just sit back and watch without even raising a finger. Time to wake up from sleep and dream that there are specific people who own our nation, specific people who can always make choices for us and drag us in the direction of their choice.

A wake-up call from the slumber of allowing ourselves to be used as tools and weapons by the very people we call our elders. Being used to a point of conflicting ourselves rather than encouraging and supporting one another. To a point of creating enmity amongst ourselves while the bosses are sipping expensive Champagne at five-star hotels.

Wake up from thinking that someone else will fix our nation. It’s high time we realized that it’s up to us to make the changes we desire. It’s up to us to fix our nation and realize that not involving ourselves in our country affairs is not only making us weak but also the main cause of poverty due to our own induced ignorance.

Most of us don’t even know about public participation in our county’s budget-making process hence we are greatly affected when the budget is released. We might seem to be careless but at the end of the day, we are the most affected. When we don’t air our views on how the government will allocate funds to help solve issues affecting us then for how long are we going to be left behind in poverty and distress. It’s high time we rise to the occasion, speak out on the issue of the budget, and make sure the government is allocating adequate funds to sectors that actually affect us.

The majority of the youths do not realize that we have public and private programs that are there to empower them. When each year millions are being allocated to these programs that very few know about, oh what a waste! A waste that we create for ourselves for being in a comfort zone that is nowhere close to being comfortable. A waste that we have brought by our own carelessness allowing other people to squander and benefit our own ignorance. We should wake up and explore every opportunity given to us or else we will forever be on televisions begging and accusing the government.

All of the slumber issues can be resolved by simply focusing on healthy youth leadership and representation. A healthy youth representation will only happen if we the youths start believing in our fellow youths. I was surprised by the fact that in a country where the population of the youths is huge a youth candidate couldn’t even score half the votes simply because he had little resources for his campaign. If we cannot give our fellow youths who understand the issues, we face a chance to lead simply because we’ve been ‘bought’ then when will our voices ever be heard.

We should believe in ourselves and give ourselves a chance to make a difference rather than always criticizing ourselves and looking down on ourselves. When we have leaders, who could always keep us in line by encouraging and motivating us to be actively involved in our country’s affairs and being active as well in the affairs rather than by preaching water and drinking wine, then surely enough things will not be the same for us. We have a chance in our own hands. Let’s all take it.

Finally, when we have the opportunity to be at the forefront when we’ve been given an opportunity to lead, let’s not misuse the opportunity, let’s always think about making our country better, encouraging other youths to be active in leadership and always striving to make a difference.