From Kenya to Mozambique, Senegal to Ghana, young Africans take their fury to the streets
Blank screens greeted viewers tuning into three of Kenya’s biggest TV stations on Wednesday. In cities across the country, thousands of young Kenyans had poured on to the streets to denounce police brutality and call for the prime minister’s resignation. The police responded with violence, teargas and water cannon – at least 16 people were killed, with hundreds more injured.
When the broadcasters refused to obey a directive not to cover the unrest, they were taken off air. If the idea was to stop Kenyans viewing images of police brutality, it failed. Footage of officers clad in riot gear whipping demonstrators flooded social media.
Urban protests are hardly new. Ethiopian students helped overthrow Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974.
Unemployment is a major grievance. With a median age of 19, Africa is by far the world’s youngest continent. Roughly 450 million young Africans are expected to enter the workforce in the next decade, a rise of 70%.
But there are not enough jobs to go around. About 75% of young Africans say it’s difficult to find a job, seeing corruption as the biggest barrier.
Added to this are the soaring cost of living, crumbling public services and poor governance. Last week’s protests in Kenya were arranged to commemorate the deaths of 60 people at similar demonstrations a year ago. Those protests had been sparked by proposed tax hikes that would have raised the prices of bread, telephone bills and nappies. While they were being debated, an MP sparked a social media storm by flaunting a range of luxury cars on TikTok. Users pointed out they are worth more than his official salary.
https://observer.co.uk/news/internation ... s-in-kenya
