By Lawrence Williams
A new wave of youthful consciousness is reshaping or better still rewriting stories across Africa. From Kenya to Senegal, from Uganda to Madagascar, Gen Z has become the pulse of political change — fearless, united, and unrelenting in their demand for justice and accountability from those in power.
In Kenya, they faced tear gas and bullets but refused to bow. They marched, organized, and shook a corrupt system to its core. In Senegal, young activists stood their ground against repression, forcing a reckoning that restored democratic order. In these countries, Gen Z is not waiting for permission. They’re demanding their future now.
In Madagascar, a Gen Z movement is demanding changes to the failed leadership of President Rajoelina as water and energy problems worsened amid high levels of corruption, youth unemployment, widespread poverty, and inadequate public services.
But here in Sierra Leone the story is painfully different. Our Gen Z is asleep, not because they lack courage, but because they have been systematically sedated, politically drugged, socially disarmed and now imprisoned in ‘kushdom.’ Politicians have weaponized poverty, unemployment and addiction to keep them numb and docile. The rise of kush is not just a drug crisis; it’s a political strategy, a system-designed tool to kill any revolutionary spirit before it’s even born.
While other African youths are mobilizing online and in the streets for justice, ours are giving up the ghost in the streets like stray dogs. Instead of being watchdogs of democracy and defenders of truth, they’ve rather become spectators in a system that thrives on their silence and suffering.
Look at Kenya’s youth, for example, how through the #RejectFinanceBill movement they forced President William Ruto to change course all through peaceful, tech-driven activism. Look at young activists in Senegal who challenged authoritarianism and championed political reform. These are young people who refuse to accept mediocrity and corruption as normal.
Sierra Leone youth account for about 70% of the country’s population. That means they have the power to decide who leads, who stays, and who goes. They have the power to shape national conversations, challenge the status quo, and build a country that respects youth not as a statistic but as a stakeholder.
The fight for justice and a better future cannot be outsourced. It begins with a collective awakening of a generation that fully understands that politicians will not save them. Salone Gen Z must know that justice doesn’t fall from the sky. And history doesn’t remember those who stayed silent but those who stood up when it mattered most.
I call on you, Salone Gen Z, to choose now whether you want to be the generation that watched our country crumble or the one that rose from the ashes and rebuilt it.
Wake up, Gen Z, the future is calling, and it won’t wait forever.
