Gen Z and opposition figures such as Rigathi Gachagua played distinct but intertwined roles in the recent Nairobi fuel‑price protests: Gen Z acted as the main grassroots‑organising and digital‑mobilising force, while Gachagua positioned himself as a political patron and amplifier rather than a direct protester.
Role of Gen Z in organisation
Gen Z youths, often coordinating through social‑media platforms under hashtags like #RejectFuelPrices, were the primary drivers of the on‑the‑ground mobilisation. They used Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and WhatsApp to share protest meeting points, counter‑narratives to police warnings, and live footage of police deployments, effectively turning Nairobi’s CBD hotspots such as the National Archives into dynamic nodes of online‑offline coordination. Many of these organisers emphasised that the protests were not “party‑led” but rather a youth‑driven expression of anger over fuel prices and the broader cost‑of‑living crisis, echoing the logic of earlier Gen‑Zled movements such as the 2024 Finance Bill protests.
Local media and analysts describe Gen Z’s role as “leaderless” in the formal‑party sense but highly structured on the digital front, with shifting networks of influencers, student activists, and small‑business owners leading chants, coordinating logistics, and circulating videos to sustain momentum even after police arrests. This digital‑first model allowed them to respond quickly to police warnings and security‑clamp‑down narratives, often framing the protests as constitutional civic action rather than illegal violence.
Gachagua’s political positioning
Rigathi Gachagua, the former Deputy President and leader of the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP), has repeatedly cast himself as a political “father figure” to Gen‑Z movements. Ahead of the April 21 fuel‑price protests, he publicly threw his weight behind the planned demonstrations, defending Gen Z’s right to protest and calling their actions “constitutional” and legitimate in a democratic society. In interviews, he urged the government to exercise restraint, warning that security forces should not repeat the deadly tactics seen during the 2024 Finance Bill protests, and arguing that “these young people must be allowed to protest peacefully.”
Despite this vocal support, Gachagua and his party deliberately distanced themselves from being seen as the main organisers of the street actions. He framed the fuel‑price protests as an independent youth initiative, even as he used the movement to rebuild his political brand and promote the DCP as a “home” for Gen‑Z‑aligned voters ahead of the 2027 general election. Legal‑procedurally, he also advised youths to respect court injunctions and avoid violence, but he simultaneously criticised the government for dismissing the protests as mere “hooliganism” instead of listening to the underlying economic grievances.
How Gen Z and Gachagua interact
The relationship between Gen Z and Gachagua is more symbiotic than directive: Gen Z provides the street energy, online reach, and on‑the‑ground confrontations, while Gachagua gives them political cover, media amplification, and a narrative of legitimacy in the national‑political arena. In effect, Gen Z runs the protests as a diffuse, digital‑networked movement, and Gachagua leverages that activism to position himself as the opposition‑aligned “voice of the youth,” even as he insists the formal opposition bloc will not directly participate in the marches.
Critics argue that Gachagua risks instrumentalising the youth, using protest‑generated anger to revive his own political career while avoiding the full responsibilities and risks of leading the demonstrations personally. Supporters, however, see him as a bridge between grassroots fury and formal politics, helping embed Gen‑Z‑style activism into a longer‑term electoral strategy centred on voter registration and the 2027 ballot as the “real” venue for change. In Nairobi’s fuel‑price protests, this dynamic played out clearly: Gen Z filled the streets; Gachagua amplified their message from the TV studio, while carefully staying out of the front lines.
