The Uwazi Festival 2026 at Nakuru Sports Club attracted huge turnout, majority young people.
The Festival is a space for young people to come together through dialogue, creativity, music and culture, creating room for honest conversations on issues shaping the country and their future.
The event was organized by Nakuru-based Tribeless Youth Organization in partnership with Tisa Kenya, Uraia Trust, siasa place, Mzalendo Trust, Africa Uncensored, Amnesty International Kenya, and Fisherman’s Experience.
Speaking during the event, Tribeless Youth Organization Executive Director Shiko Kihika challenged youth to remain focused ahead of the 2027 general polls.
According to her, this will be a turning point in the leadership of the country, only if young people can take active role in shaping the leadership through their voices on ballot.
Sentiments echoed by former LSK Chair Faith Odhiambo.
She pointed out that young people have had the mentality of abstaining from voting.
However, Ms Odhiambo stated that abstaining from voting is not the solution to bad leadership, instead young people should exercise their democratic rights by voting in the right leadership.
On her part Diana Gichengo from TISA added that young people are well equiped to take over leadershi.
“When leaders come to you we must take the notion we have employed them. Lately they have taken our language, saying sisi sio wajinga and every day they take us for fools. Kenya does not have a shortage of young intelligent people and we do not have a shortage of money in this country,” she said.
Sentiments echoed by Wilkister Aduma who stated that there is need for young people to track development record of leadership and ensure those in power do not misappropriate money meant for development.
According to her, budgeting is cosmetic, because even cosmetic products have increased in value.
Veteran activist and UKWELI PARTY Leader Boniface Mwangi who also graced the event, called on young people to take charge of the political space in this country.
Mwangi pointed out that the only way to save the country is by voting out corrupt leaders and replacing them with those who have no traces of corruption.
“We have to wipe out corrupt leaders through the Ballot. Infact we need to make changes to the law so that those implicated in corruption are hanged…That is the only way we can end corruption in this country,” stated Mwangi.
During the event, the attendees had also time to enter into focused group discussions where they also engaged on various issues among them budget, integrity where young people through a well moderated discussion had time to ask questions.
In the evening, the participants were treated to a lively concert graced by the who is who in the creative and entertainment industry key among them Okello Max and Coster Ojwang’.
The event also doubled up as a platform for Tribeless Youth Organization to mark 10 years since established.
The Organization believes that Civic freedoms are increasingly contested and that corruption and political patronage persist.
In addition, Ethnic mobilisation continues to shape political competition, Voter apathy
is growing, while police violence, enforced disappearances and gender-based violence raise profound questions about whose lives and voices matter.
And as Kenya moves towards the 2027 General Election, the choices we make; as citizens, communities and a nation, matter.
The Uwazi Festival 2026 asks a simple but urgent question: Which Way Kenya?
Uwazi is a civic arts and democracy gathering that brings together young people, artists, social justice advocates, community organisers, policy thinkers, journalists, public officials and citizens to interrogate the Kenya we have, confront the Kenya we are becoming, and imagine the Kenya we want.
Uwazi is a civic immersion.
Uwazi Festival 2026 by TribelessYouth co-partnering with The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA), and it brought
together dialogue, art, music, technology, storytelling, games and exhibitions to make constitutional values tangible and alive.
Creating spaces where people can question the present, imagine the future and shape what comes.