A section of Kenyans on X vowed to boycott President William Ruto’s X Space, preferring to hold their own parallel Space to counter the Head of State’s engagement.
Soon after the Presidency announced that Ruto would be engaging Kenyans on an X space on July 5 from 2pm to 5pm, thousands of dissenters rose up to criticise the initiative, with many claiming that it was not the President’s responsibility to schedule a conversation, but rather theirs as his constitutional employer.
Many others criticised the move, claiming that they had made their demands abundantly clear over the last three weeks, whether through placards, printed t-shirts, tweets, street demonstrations or even writings.
Therefore, they wondered why the President and his team felt the need to cluster around an X Space even after all that had happened – and had been unequivocally pronounced – over the course of the past month.
“What else does he want to hear? Haven’t we been repeating the same things over the last one month? We’ve been saying it loud and clear. Offline and online. What else does this man want to hear!? Boycott that useless Space!” James Kamau, an X user, said.
As the boycott calls continued to reverberate across X, some influential figures on the platform decided to do more than just talk; they vowed to host their own parallel Space to rival that of the President – to be broadcast at the same time.
X heavweights Kimuzi, Osama Otero, Gabriel Oguda and Hanifa Adan all welcomed the idea with the overwhelming majority settling upon Kimuzi and Osama to host the rival Space.
Others even went as far as suggesting that the parallel Space would be hosted in honour of slain businessman Jacob Juma, a man whose old tweets have continued to provide the backdrop for the country’s current political climate.
Circulating a poster titled “Let’s Rage On!”, Kenyans on X called upon their compatriots to share the information widely, explicitly stating that they would not attend the Ruto Space.
“The only independent entity you have now as a country is social media. If you allow Ruto to infiltrate it, you are done. For all those willing to join, it’s a free world. But remember, more than 100 families are grieving their children. Taken early by this regime,” Kimuzi tweeted.
Social commentator Gabriel Oguda also joined in, saying, “Gen Zs have said they will also host their parallel X Space session at the same time Ruto will be speaking to his children tomorrow. This is the violence I signed up for.”
On her part, user Regina Nzomo said, “Every Kenyan who respects themselves and loves this country is hereby asked to boycott the Ruto space. He spoke to Linus Kaikai, Joe Ageyo and Eric Latiff. The whole nation watched the interview. What more does this man want to hear?”
Ruto’s Space has brought along with it a rather interesting angle as it appears all government entities, including parastatals, have been asked – or instructed – to join the Space convened by their boss.
All Cabinet Secretaries, too, will all log in as the President seeks to talk to the Gen Z directly.
Governmental bodies who have, for the longest time now, shown indifference to government policy are now even talking about the Space.
The President’s own daughter Charlene Ruto has also thrown herself into the conversation too, urging Kenyans to heed to the President’s unprecedented invite.
“Young people, the chance of a lifetime awaits you. I encourage you to use it wisely and enagage constructively because you are the ones who will determine the continuity of such levels of discussion for your success,” she wrote.
“The first ever president in the world to hold an online meeting with all Gen Z. Leggoo!”
Miss Ruto’s comments, of course, did not go down with the majority of Kenyans. One asked her, “Chance of a lifetime? Is this what you call a chance of a lifetime? Wow! One more reason for me to NOT attend that scripted Space!”
