Stop Waiting for Permission — Take Your Seat !!

I have consistently spoken about economic justice, prioritization of Mwananchi, transparency, and integrity in leadership.
That stand remains firm and unmoved. Development must first serve the ordinary citizen. Public resources must be used prudently. Leadership must remain accountable.

But today, I want to speak about strategy.

For a long time, many young people, myself included , have raised valid concerns about governance gaps, delayed services, stalled projects, and misplaced priorities. Calling out injustice is necessary, demanding transparency is necessary, holding leaders accountable is necessary.

However, accountability alone is not enough; We must ask ourselves: 

• How do we influence systems if we are permanently outside them?
• How do we shape policy if we are not present where policy is shaped?
• Ranting without representation limits our power.
• Protest without positioning reduces our potential.

If we desire economic justice, we must also understand budgeting processes.

If we demand transparency, we must sit in oversight spaces.

If we want prioritization of Mwananchi, we must engage planning frameworks and implementation structures.

You cannot influence a roundtable you refuse to sit at.

                                        

Roundtbles matter, policy dialogues matter, stakeholder engagements matter, partnerships matter. These spaces are not symbols of compromise — they are instruments of leverage.

Youth must move from being counted as beneficiaries to being recognized as:

• Co-creators of solutions
• Policy contributors
• Implementers of development programs
• Monitors of accountability frameworks
• Drivers of innovation

In sectors like WASH, Climate Action, Health, and local economic empowerment, the energy, creativity, and proximity of young people to communities is unmatched. Yet too often, youth are invited only at the tail end — when implementation is complete or when photos are needed.

That must change.

Strategic positioning is not betrayal of ideals. It is maturity of approach.

Engaging government or institutions does not erase our advocacy for integrity. It strengthens it. When you understand internal processes, financing mechanisms, and structural bottlenecks, your activism becomes informed, solution-oriented, and impactful.

True economic justice requires:

• Access to decision-making spaces.
• Understanding of resource flows.
• Ability to influence allocation.
• Courage to demand results
• Capacity to implement and monitor

The future belongs to young people who can mobilize in the streets and articulate policy on roundtables.

Let us not be permanently angry spectators.

Let us be architects of systems.

There is work to be done.

There are spaces to occupy.

There are policies to influence.

There are resources to redirect toward Mwananchi.

Youth must not only demand change; we must design it, fund it, implement it, and safeguard it.

I remain committed to justice, transparency, and integrity. But I am equally committed to strategy, collaboration, and positioning.

"Because influence requires presence, and presence requires courage."

Iko kazi.