African Woman and Child Feature Service

- Mahatma Gandhi

Young people keep hearing the same message all the time- that they are the leaders of tomorrow - but the message does not give them the directions as to how to make the crucial transition to access the structures and opportunities for leadership.

Recently, 30 teenage girls were given an opportunity to interact with Kenyan women leaders representing diverse issues to share their experiences and to encourage the students themselves to become the leaders, strong citizens, decision-makers and proud women of tomorrow.

International Women’s Day has come and gone.  For 30 teenage girls from secondary schools in Nairobi, 2007 will take on a new significance, having come away from the celebrations with a renewed inspiration and a set of new mentors.

The youth as a distinct social group in Kenya have continued to be the focus of considerable attention.  This is largely because young people in Kenya represent a large and growing proportion of Kenya’s population. However, this has not necessarily translated into concrete action in relation to strategies and resources to uplift the status of the youth. 

The girls, ten each from the Starehe Girls School, Girl Guides Association and the International School of Kenya were given the opportunity to interact with various women leaders in the fields of leadership, politics and peace during a day-long session hosted at the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi. 

The special significance to this interaction was in the immediate potential for the beginnings of a sustained mentorship relationship between the teenagers and women leaders in their diversity with possibilities for propagating similar programmes all over the country. 

In the words of the executive director of the Institute for Education in Democracy, Ms Koki Muli, young people have the benefit of time, space and opportunities today, unlike the older generations.

However, this does not gloss over the challenges faced by young people seeking to become relevant in shaping the future and seizing the reigns of leadership from their elders on the one hand, and a conscious effort by the older generation to teach and mentor the youth into their roles as leaders. 

The students said they yearned for role models and the opportunity to be mentored by women leaders.

In their presentation to the women leaders; Mea Jordan, Cynthia Mong’are, Rhoda Makori, Hannah Wanjiku Grace Wangechi, Doreen Kuria, Julia Ridemark and Manon Verchot said:  “Let us strive to give a motherly healing to the different sectors that can make a difference for Kenya.” 

Ms Muli pointed out that traditionally, political leadership is wrestled from the incumbents:  “They will not gladly give up those seats,” she added. 

“Education is one of the most effective ways to counter bad social attitudes,” she told the teenagers, “since it is a lived experience, people begin to understand, accept and embrace good practices with education.” 

Ms Muli, whose organisation is leading the “Vijana Tugutuke! Ni Time Yetu” campaign to increase youth participation in the processes and actual elections at the end of 2007, emphasised that each voter plays the role of a human resources manager, whose business it is to employ people to provide oversight and impeccable leadership in the management of Kenya’s vast resources and to make decisions on the behalf of voters. 

“In essence, elected representatives are the custodians of our interests, and we must think seriously about the credentials of those we employ to be the CEO and guardians of Kenya’s resources,” said Ms Muli. 

Linked closely with the issue of leadership and politics is peace.  The students listened keenly to Mrs Selline Korir, a peace activist from the North Rift who has been mediating in the conflict in Mt Elgon region and to Ambassador Amina Mohamed, the head of the European Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Both women spoke of the familiar patterns of violence affecting women and children in conflict regions in Kenya and in the world. 

“Women are best placed to make peace at home and in the community, in school and beyond the borders,” said Mrs Korir. 

In response, the students made the observation that peace is a value that ought to be within reach of everyone regardless of their age, race or gender:  “There should be peace between the sexes just as there should be peace between countries and people,” they added. 

For those aspiring to become parliamentarians in the future, nominated MP, Hon Njoki Ndungu, made the observation that parliament is a reflection of the whole face of Kenya.  Political parties still hold the trump card for aspirants in a system where candidates must seek the endorsement of their parties through a nomination process before entering the race for election. The first person past the post is declared the winner. 

“Politics is a gamble,” she cautioned, “But at the end of five years I want to be able to say that it was time well-spent,” she added.