Kalonzo declares June 25th a Gen Z revolution day
Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka on Friday, May 30, 2025, declared June 25th a national holiday to honour youthful Kenyans who lost their lives and were maimed in their clamour for good governance.
In a bold declaration in Machakos while in the company of key opposition figures in the country, Kalonzo decried government inaction in compensating families who lost their kin during the anti-Finance bill demos in 2024.
“We shall be marking June 25, 2025, as a Gen Z revolution day. This will be a holiday for all Kenyans to celebrate the new liberation championed by the Gen Zs,” Kalonzo said.
“Therefore, I want to state here that June 25 will forever be a national holiday for the children of this nation. We have to respect the youth of this country who lost their lives yet their parents have yet to receive compensation from the government,” he added.
June 25 protests
The youth-led demonstrations against a punitive Finance Bill of 2024 took an unprecedented turn on June 25, 2024, when the youth overwhelmed police officers guarding Parliament and broke into the chambers after members of parliament passed the controversial bill.
Commotion ensued in the parliament building, with the riotous youth destroying furniture and artwork in the chambers even as orderlies escorted the legislators through a secret underground tunnel leading to the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC).
In the confrontation that followed, several people were shot dead inside and out of the parliament building while several others sustained serious injuries.
While President William Ruto initially branded the youth as criminals, he later toned down and seek an audience with them over X Spaces, where they recommended a raft of actions to make things right.
Gen Z compensation calls
In the subsequent statements, the ODM Party leader Raila Odinga called for the compensation of protesters who lost their lives in the Gen Z demos and those who died in 2023.
“Youths who were injured and parents whose children were killed in 2023 and 2024 during the Azimio and Gen Z protests. We want their families to be compensated. That is a demand that we are putting. Most importantly, we want an end to abductions and killings,” Odinga said in March 2025.
The government has remained measured in giving progress reports on the compensation of families that lost their loved ones in the demos.
