Your grandfather was told he’d lead tomorrow. Your father heard the same line. Now it’s your turn to wait.
Except your grandfather is still in power.
The Con That Never Expires
Tomorrow never arrives. That’s how the con works. It stays one day ahead, always out of reach, while the men who were promised it decades ago govern today. They didn’t wait for permission. They took the room while you were being taught patience.
The phrase works because it sounds wise. Elders say it at graduations, politicians chant it in rallies, parents repeat it at dinner tables. It feels like an honour. But check your pockets, there are no car keys, no house keys. Just a promise that never matures.
The Future Is Now, Not Tomorrow
Kevin Mutiso of Oye calls it what it is: the future is here. The problems exist right now. The solutions must happen now. Every day you defer is another day someone else decides your reality without consulting you.
Climate change won’t wait for you to turn 45. Economic collapse doesn’t check your birth certificate.
Waiting rots you. You learn to sit in rooms and nod while someone explains why your idea won’t work, not because it’s flawed, but because you haven’t “earned” the right to be taken seriously yet. Age becomes a credential that overrides competence.
Youth Already Leading Where Gates Dropped
Youth movements like Y’en a Marre in Senegal and Balai Citoyen in Burkina Faso proved that young Africans can defend constitutional order and drive political change. They didn’t wait for tomorrow. They acted today because the problems they face won’t pause for their hair to grey.
Late Bloomers Started Early
This isn’t about pushing everyone over fifty aside. Vera Wang made her first dress at 40. Ray Kroc bought McDonald’s at 52. Late bloomers exist because they started when they could, not when someone gave them permission.
They had ideas. They had will. And they found or forced their way to the resources that made execution possible.
That’s what’s missing: access. Infrastructure. Capital that evaluates ideas on merit, not the colour of your hair. Systems that let you start today so the fight that begins now can end when it’s ready.
Mandela became president at 76, but his fight began decades earlier. He started when the moment demanded it, not when the system approved it.
By 2030, young Africans will make up nearly 40% of the world’s youth. The demographic is here. The energy is here. The problems demanding solutions are here. What’s missing is the deliberate choice to remove the gates that say you can’t lead until you’ve aged into acceptability.
It’s a Delay Tactic
“The youth are the leaders of tomorrow” is a delay tactic. It keeps you waiting for a tomorrow that never comes while today’s decisions get made without you.
Joy doesn’t only come in the morning. It can come now.
Leadership doesn’t come tomorrow. It comes today if you take it.
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