President William Ruto will engage with Kenyans on the social media platform X this Friday, amidst the recent wave of anti-government demonstrations.
The session, announced via a poster on X, will take place on X Space from 2 pm to 5 pm.
Ruto aims to connect with the Kenyan youth, particularly Generation Z, as he promised during a roundtable interview with digital media journalists at State House, Nairobi, on Sunday.
During the interview, when asked if he would join X Spaces to engage with the discontented youth, Ruto responded affirmatively.
“In the next one week, we must have this conversation in the space where you want. I am sending you guys, one of you to set up the space this week, maybe Thursday or Friday, why not? I will be there,” Ruto said.
He also mentioned that the youth could choose to identify a leader among them to represent their concerns in talks with the government or decide how they want to engage him if they prefer to remain leaderless.
“When I suggested the multi-sectoral approach, I thought we were going to organize ourselves and this is how we are going to participate. And by the way, I wanted the whole of that set up to be about young people; civil society, young people; religious organizations, young people; professional bodies, young people,” Ruto added.
However, Ruto acknowledged the difficulty he has faced in connecting with the disgruntled youth due to the lack of a clear representative. “Whether it is Thursday, Friday… mkipangana mimi niko,” he asserted.
The President has called for dialogue with the protesting youth to address pressing national issues, including unemployment and the high cost of living.
Despite this, some youth on the X platform have vowed to boycott the conversation, stating that they have already expressed their concerns during the protests.
