In the early 20’s, a generation arose that confounded the confounder in a country called Genza. It ran towards bullets armed only with bottled water and phones en masse. Educated, articulate and rights-conscious, it was not only tired of empty promises but demanded for delivery of services that had been paid for with painful taxes. It was demanding for contractual performance not a favour. The demand was non-negotiable.

Living on the edge of the rope, it was unwilling to wait for the electoral schedule to solve the dire problems that threatened a nation. Just like Genzans, this generation was acutely aware that unconstitutional means to depose a democratically elected leader was a recipe for monstrous chaos. Chaos that would make Somalia look like heaven.

Cognizant of this, the GenZ, as it was known in Genza, was undeterred in looking for alternate but immediate means to save the nation. Efforts that would simultaneously put a reverse gear and break on debt slavery, unemployment and shameful service delivery.

Was it a blessing or a curse that the fearless generation was unapologetically leaderless? On one hand, being leaderless was an advantage as it could not be silenced by the convention that bought the leaders or silenced them with violence or threats of death. On the other hand, it was impossible for the now F-rated President to call for a conniving dialogue as there was no leader to summon from the leaderless. This was more than a headache for the rulers who wanted to catch birds with fishnets. Men who attempted to light the streets with darkness. Rulers who ascended to the throne by lying to those who cannot be lied to.

It was increasingly becoming clear that no tactic previously employed for generations would work to silence 24 million strong voters-block that was thoroughly tribeless. In other words, the lessons taught by Toroi-torture Arap Moe were hopelessly miserable to torture this generation to submission. In fact, threats of State violence littered social media with more defiance and made the eruption of the righteous magma imminent. People mockingly practiced their envisioned limp after bullet-inflicted injury on their legs by a Presidential order. Others contemplated a life in a wheelchair courtesy of a President they called Wheeliam.

But this impasse was threatening a nation with disintegration where no one would be a winner. This was seemingly an impossible situation. The tribal based opposition in place was hopelessly impotent in helping the situation. It too was only in it to capture lavish power but not to offer the solutions which the tribeless urgently sought. Further, the generation that would press the government of the day to do what was needed was complacent. Even though it was not thriving under the failed leadership, it was at least surviving. That precarious subsistence of the Millennials blinded them to the pending social and economic collapse. Was there a way to force their involvement non-violently? That was on top of the mind of the GenZ quickly running out of constructive options.

Unable to directly enforce its super-majority’s will mid-term, it devised an indirect plan that worked like clockwork to save the country from a sure death-spiral. The plan was to get others who were better organized to force the government of the day to do what the leaderless and unrepresented wanted. This time they didn’t need to access the city center. They simply needed to do what all protests aim to achieve. To temporarily paralyze the economy to save it from a total collapse.

On the particular day highly publicized on social media by GenZ, hundreds of thousands of drivers were to go slow everywhere in Genza. Yes, to drive very slowly on every road in the country. This was especially true on all roads that lead to the City. On that day, tortoises were seen passing some cars on Hika Superhighway, Wyakey Way and Ombasa Road. It was that slow!

Matutu drivers were eager to go slow too. It was their time to contribute to non-violent protests of blatant mismanagement of the economy. GenZs who were Uber drivers, truck drivers as well as other motorists drove at snail speed to aid the new strategy. The fastest driver on these main arteries drove at 10km/hr. Hundreds of drivers made it their duty to simply wake up and drive around slowly all day on the main arteries leading to the City. The go-slow by all motorists was done everyday in the entire month of August in what historians now call Presha na Jam!

Soon, transportation was clogged up everywhere for a month especially around the economic hub that was also the seat of power. Even corruption was at standstill. The bullet and the tear gas was hopeless to stop this one as everyone was innocently stuck in mammoth traffic. The razor-sharp barricade too bowed out as it was not designed for slow harmless cars. The economy stalled, but momentarily. Those that were complacent but on survival mode felt the pain endured daily by the tribeless. Like a Mlolongo plague sent to soften Pharaoh’s heart, the dominos started falling in place.

Trade Unions piled pressure on the government not for positions like tribal based opposition but service delivery. The Genza Association of Manufacturers was pressing the right buttons. The Clergy was not calling Brown House for brown envelopes or for a chance on the national microphone but immediate service delivery in Healthcare. The Catholics, the Protestants and the Muslims were unified in demanding what was rightfully GenZ’s. The Law Society of Genza too was energized to continue on its righteous advocacy for the leaderless super-majority. Every professional and trade body demanded in unison what had to be done to save the nation. Presha na Jam was unbelievably effective.

Under this newly found pressure tool, the government became responsive overnight. Money earmarked for corruption was rightly re-channelled for its designated purpose. Funds coveted to bribe the electorate were swiftly directed to service delivery. Funds allocated to build stadiums for entertainment and misplaced markets to be stocked with imported goods and foods were immediately redirected to erect factories to make Fast Moving Consumer Goods throughout the country.

Under this pressure, Genza permanently banned imported soap, toothpaste, snacks, fruits, juice, eggs, milk, maize, sugar, clothes, shoes etc. These were manufactured or grown here in the country at lightning speed. In just two years, millions of GenZ were employed perpetually by simply manufacturing and growing in Genza what was shamelessly imported previously. Monies previously tethered to construct houses for people who could not afford food were too directed towards job-giving local manufacturing. Genza had been reborn economically in record time. Even Wheeliam was openly embarrassed to finally realize just how much time he had wasted to solve what took so little.

On this month, Genza was permanently endowed with the instruments of our freedom; the rebuilding power bound in our Five Fingers, the liberty found in our Money Circles, the maps with channels of our escape from Dollar Altar and the potent cannon of our sure victory in the President’s Advisor!

Presha na Jam injected by GenZ analogous to a bitter dose is what saved Genza from a sure collapse 25 years ago this August first. A reverberating victory even before the electoral date arrived to determine whether it was GenzTAM or GenzTAM!

Written by Robert Mwangi, MBA
Author of President’s Advisor,
Money Circles, Five Fingers
& Dollar Altar Available at Nuria Stores and Amazon and Lulu.com. He also composed and sung Ziba Ufa and Bururi Mwonju.