Wavinya Ndeti recalls how 2024 Gen Z protests sparked talks with youth on jobs
Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti has disclosed how last year’s Gen Z-led protests opened the door for direct conversations between her administration and young people on job creation and self-employment.
Speaking in Homa Bay on Sunday, August 10, 2025, Ndeti recounted how, at the height of the protests, some youths from Machakos announced plans to visit her office.
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“I remember last year when we had all these problems, youth were saying they were coming to visit people, they were saying they were coming to visit me,” she said.
Rather than waiting for confrontation, Ndeti said she embarked on county-wide consultations, in an attempt to transform the potential conflict into meaningful dialogue.
“I said, No problem, tell me when you’re coming so that I can also wait for you. But before they could come, I agreed to go and do public participation with them,” she explained.
Employment concerns
According to the governor, the listening sessions revealed a consistent message across the county.
“I think the youth are very clear on what they want. They want inclusion and they want to be listened to… So I went to all 40 wards and spoke to the youth,” she said.
“Their biggest problem is job, work, work, work, work. Most of them are very well educated,” she noted, stressing the repetitive nature of their employment-related issues.
Business ideas
Ndeti further pointed out that the young individuals she met were often well-prepared with concrete business ideas.
“Most of them are very well educated. Okay, there are those ones who are not educated, but they want solutions. They also have projects, but it’s not that they don’t have ideas. They already know what they want to do,” she observed.
Ndeti said her administration has since developed plans to respond to the needs expressed during those forums.
“So, like for us, they told us the projects that they wanted to start. We took all that information. And now, we are empowering them with most of the things that they were asking for so that they can be able to work for themselves,” Ndeti added.
