Rhetoric, reality, and re-membering: Reflections on Kenya’s knowledge ecosystem following the June 2024 maandamano

The construct of ‘knowledge’ exists within particular contexts, where political, economic and social interests converge to enable, stifle, or contain discourse about what people know, as well as how and why they know it. For many African countries, these interests are further complicated by colonial histories where the deliberate dismantling and diminishing of indigenous cultures and knowledge(s) (Bol & van Niekerk, 2024) have in contemporary times been countered by decolonial studies scholarship (such as Alapo & Doghudje, 2023; Carstens & Preiser, 2024); Gumbo, Knaus & Gasa, 2024; wa Thiong’o, 1986), which itself has been critiqued as an extension of colonial epistemology (Eze, 2024).

While acknowledging those various perspectives, this article focuses its argument on contradictions between the rhetorical and lived expressions of aspects of the Kenyan knowledge ecosystem, as set against the backdrop of a historic 2024 citizen protest (termed maandamano in Kiswahili). Policy statements that provide for access to equitable, quality education are negated by scholarly and media accounts of a range of issues including an unclear philosophical framework, underfunding, unequal resource allocation, poor implementation of education reforms, marginalization of learners from vulnerable socio-economic circumstances, and student and teacher unrest (Kihaki, 2025; Maisha Kazini, 2020; Malemba, 2024; Muricho, 2023; Ogawa, 2022; Osabwa, Malenya & Ndichu, 2021; Spice FM, 2024).  

The article further recognizes the work the citizenry embarked on to assemble, share and provoke new knowledge and ways of thinking thus enacting a form of resistance to the status quo. 

This work of assembly is termed ‘re-membering’ in this article, drawing from the work of Kenyan literary scholar Ngugi wa Thiong’o (2009). Often defined as a decolonial intellectual, wa Thiong’o framed colonialism as a weapon that dismembered African individual and collective identities, and so called for a reconstruction of the self and of community through language and collective memory ie ‘re-membering’. In my study of the June 2024 protests, I found the term ‘re-membering’ to be a useful conceptual framework through which to analyze the citizen-generated critiques of aspects of Kenyan life without necessarily making reference to ‘colonialism’ which ‘decolonial’ studies remain hinged upon (Eze, 2024). 

The term ‘knowledge ecosystem’ may refer to the individuals, institutions, laws and policies that relate to knowledge production, expression and dissemination. In that regard, this article limits itself to one entity associated with knowledge, namely the formal Kenyan education system.

On June 25, 2024, thousands of Kenyans took to the streets across the country protesting against proposed legislation that sought to raise taxes. The protests, termed maandamano in Kiswahili, enabled citizens to forcefully give voice to their questions about wasteful or questionable use of public monies, while exposing weak and corrupt leadership, and dysfunction in multiple sectors (education, mining, agriculture, food security, etc). Social media platforms were taken over not just to share personal opinions but to rally people together to consider a new-look Kenya. Many of these citizens have paid for these questions with their lives and their personal freedom (Onyando, 2024; Wamunyu, 2024). 

In Nairobi, some of the protestors gained entrance into parliament by breaching its gates where subsequently, the mace was reportedly stolen. The mace is a symbol of the parliament’s legislative authority, and a key element in the conducting of the business of the house. One observation in this article is that the taking of the mace was a decisive moment in the country’s history, symbolically illustrating a pivotal dismantling of institutional power and authority by and for the Kenyan people. The June 25, 2024 protest was a seminal event that served as the beginning of further protests later that year.  

By focusing on purposively selected institutional and regulatory entities related to knowledge production, expression and dissemination, the article argues that even in matters related to the country’s knowledge ecosystem, the protest exposed extensive dissonance between the rhetoric and reality of aspects of Kenya’s knowledge ecosystem and the epistemic violence - a term associated with postcolonial theorist Spivak (1988) to mean the silencing or erasure of marginalized groups' knowledge systems, perspectives, and agency -, the citizens have experienced at the hands of contemporary institutions in power.

Through a textual analysis of purposively selected legislative, policy, and media texts, the article posits that there has been a re-positioning of the citizen away from peripheral to central actor in Kenya’s knowledge ecosystem. The article concerns itself with the following questions:

1. What is the rhetorical expression of Kenya’s knowledge ecosystem in the legislative and policy frameworks that pertain to the formal education system?

2. What is the lived reality of Kenya’s knowledge ecosystem as exposed in the dissonance and dysfunction in the expression, production and dissemination of knowledge within the formal education system?

The article presents the discussion under three key sections which address the legislative and policy framing of knowledge in Kenya’s formal education system (rhetoric), Kenyans’ lived reality of the formal education system (reality), and posits that the 2024 protests enabled Kenyans to engage in a review and reconsideration of the education system (re-membering).