What Will It Take for the UN to Act? – Kenyan Female Activist Faridah Ally Asks in the Geneva Forum

Our country has been going through adverse political instability as the Kenyan youth fights the government against corruption, high taxation, unemployment, and multiple other forms of injustice. What started last year (2024) as a movement against the passage of the Finance Bill has evolved into a radical movement among the youth and, honestly, the entire country, seeking the overthrow of the government with the famous slogan, “Ruto Must Go.” Unfortunately, the government did not take this kindly and has taken up atrocious methods of dealing with the resistance from Kenyans by engaging in what can only be termed as acts of terrorism by killing innocent Kenyan youths for practicing their constitutional right of peaceful protests.

While these events have gone on for a year now, we have not received any formal intervention or even comment from the United Nations and Kenyans are tired. As such, when Kenyan youth activist Faridah Ally was given a forum to speak at the Youth Rights Academy in Switzerland, the founder of Elimu Care and a brave contemporary woman had very tough questions to ask.

In the video she shared on both her Instagram and X Pages, Ally could be heard speaking directly to a panel that included United Nations representatives, asking the question many of us have been wondering,

Ally then went ahead to explain the horrid events that have been going on in the country under President Ruto’s regime—police brutality, wrongful abductions, extrajudicial killings, and multiple other heinous acts by the government.

Ally then proceeded to explain that the situation in our country has been so dire that we have received global coverage including a documentary done by the BBC. The Kenyan youth have also written letters to the UN and even disrupted UN sessions in a desperate call to raise the alarm on the ongoing situation. I dare add that some of these atrocities have been recorded live on camera on CNN news by our very own Larry Madowo.

The sad thing is that while she was asking these questions, the Saba Saba protests were ongoing, where there have been recorded more than 15 deaths of Kenyan youths!

 I’m also sure we have all seen the extremely scary video of police dragging a dead body through the street without even dignity or even feeling the need to carry him to their van, because why should they when there are no consequences?

So, just like Ally, I also wonder, just like the rest of us, what will it take for our voices to be heard?