Political activist and ODM youth league leader Kasmuel
McOure has reaffirmed his support for Kenyans youths, even as they plan to take
to the streets on June 25, to mark the first anniversary of the deadly Gen Z
uprising against the 2024 Finance Bill.
Kasmuel is in the United States for the Mandela Washington Fellowship
said that even though he is away, he stands in solidarity with the youth.
He noted that the youth will eventually liberate the
country.
He went on to condole with the families of young people who
lost their lives as a result of the protests.
“A year later, I still sing this anthem, the same one we
sang together in the streets, in solidarity with every young person marching or
protesting tomorrow. Though I am thousands of kilometres away, I stand in
solidarity with you. To the families who lost loved ones, my heart is with you.
To Kenya, our motherland, we shall surely liberate you,” Kasmuel said.
He described the June 2024 anti-government protests as the
most significant he has ever been a part of.
The activist said it achieved all its objectives, despite the
police responding with brutal force that led to the death of a number of
youths.
Kasmuel said that their deaths is a wound that will never
heal.
“Last year, around this time, I was getting ready for the
most consequential protest I’ve ever been part of. We achieved all we set out
to do peacefully but the police responded with brutal force and claimed many of
our own. It’s a wound that will never fully heal, and we must never forget the
brutality Kenyan youth have suffered at the hands of those meant to protect us.”
The protests, which erupted in June 2024, were driven by
outrage over what many viewed as punitive taxation under the now-infamous
Finance Bill.
Dozens were killed or injured in the weeks-long standoff
between police and defiant protesters, most of them youth.
Lobby groups placed the number of deaths at over 61, while
official government data puts the number of deaths at 42.