President William Ruto is set to host an X-Space session with Kenyans today, starting at 2 pm. The administration has pushed the session as an open conversation between the president and the young people of Kenya after weeks of tension highlighted by the aggressive demonstrations witnessed across the country.
Spaces are a feature on the X platform, owned by Elon Musk, where users can have live audio conversations. They can join, listen and speak in a “Space,” according to Twitter.
The young population mostly Generation Z, and millennials have been very vocal against a finance bill deemed extremely oppressive at a time when they feel that the country’s economy doesn’t favour the average citizen.
The frustration grew even further with millions of young people taking to social media now and calling for the president’s resignation. This has not just been against President Ruto but also against individual government officials who advocated for the finance bill.
The X Space was announced by the president last week, Thursday, to live up to his promise of listening to the young population on their grievances.
“All Kenyans are welcome to contribute to this dialogue as part of our collective effort to foster national renewal and create a better Kenya for all,” stated a communication from the Cabinet Office, Executive Office of the President.
Since then, however, there have been events that many would say have not painted the President in the best light. This was mostly highlighted by the long interview he held with media representatives on Sunday where many of his answers were not the best.
Kenyan users on X have been calling for a boycott of the space, going as far as planning to host a counter space. It will be interesting to see how the session plays out and how the young people in attendance interact with President Ruto
