Governance is not about propaganda, it is all about delivering on promises
President Uhuru Kenyatta shares a word with his deputy William Ruto at a past function. Many who chastised civil society and accused it of complicity with foreign powers seeking to rock the digital Jubilee boat no longer remember the distinction they drew between analogue and digital. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- Many who chastised civil society and accused it of complicity with foreign powers seeking to rock the digital Jubilee boat no longer remember the distinction they drew between analogue and digital.
- Some do not need to carry paper money into the supermarket. They simply swipe cards, and their expenditure can be approved even if they do not have real money in the account.
The most illuminating single video on social media this week was that of Mr Chris Gunness, a United Nations spokesman, who reportedly broke down and uncontrollably cried during a television interview. The reason was the devastating human impact of murders in Gaza.
Mr Gunness is a former BBC reporter, who now works for the UN’s Relief and Works Agency. Mr Gunness certainly knows the choreography and rehearsed poise expected of someone before live cameras.
He tried to remain stoic in his appearance; aiming to articulate his views professionally and objectively.
At some point, he started speaking haltingly, tried unsuccessfully to compose himself and keep talking. But the memory of the devastating murders, vile destruction and crude propaganda that goes into explaining away the persisting carnage in Palestine overwhelmed him. He broke down completely. The cameras turned away but his loud sobbing remained audible.
This story is an important commentary on the intricate interplay between objectivity and empathy; the fact that journalists, like historians, are, before they write their story, always part of the story.
Some do not need to carry paper money into the supermarket. They simply swipe cards, and their expenditure can be approved even if they do not have real money in the account.
JUBILEE'S MOUNTING FAILURES
Mr Gunness’s story is, for me, a useful entry point into the introspective mood that seems to have engulfed Kenya in recent times and in which our media are a key player. A good many Kenyans who were enthusiastic about the Jubilee Government, some often unreasonably, are not too loud anymore.
Many who chastised civil society and accused it of complicity with foreign powers seeking to rock the digital Jubilee boat no longer remember the distinction they drew between analogue and digital.
Even Cord, which was so thoroughly overwhelmed with the social media harassment seems to have reinvented itself. With the exception of the occasional misfit who cannot discern a changing public mood, the social media propaganda that dismissed everyone expressing a dissenting view in the same terms as religious heresy is no longer heard.
The reason for this changing mood is Jubilee’s mounting failures. These failures do not affect only the five million who voted for Mr Raila Odinga.
In fact, one could credibly argue that while the general problems of corruption and increased taxation hit all poor Kenyans in equal measure, the problem of insecurity discriminates and targets people differently and tends to be regionally specific.
IMMEDIACY OF ECONOMIC CHALLENGES
The rising prices of basic commodities affect the poor more. There are those people who never look at the prices of commodities when they shop.
Some do not need to carry paper money into the supermarket. They simply swipe cards, and their expenditure can be approved even if they do not have real money in the account.
Others, however, have to calculate the amount in the pocket before taking the walk to the shop. Many of these people who carefully count the coins are our relatives or friends. Others work for us as private security guards or in related jobs. In other words, whether cushioned from the negative effects of a bad economy or not, we live in the immediacy of the economic challenges affecting relatives, friends or workers.
Soon after last year’s vote, we thought we could wish away these challenging realities through propaganda. But the reality is hitting home and our capacity to empathise will not allow us to swallow empty promises and propaganda.
When, this week, the effects of insecurity on tourism forced otherwise diplomatic players in the sector to lash out at the continuing propaganda of the Kenya Tourism Board’s managing director, I knew that the truth might prevail, even if temporarily.
After all, who is keen to listen to a director who paints a picture of a rosy tourist industry when hotels are empty? Governance is not about propaganda, it is about delivering things.
Godwin Murunga is Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi
