Getting politicians to listen to the cries of ordinary people is no easy task. In the West, it is quite common to find protestors sending tonnes of rotten tomatoes, or in the case of George Bush Senior, farmers upset by his comments on broccoli sent tonnes of them to the White House, just to pass a message.
In the UK, an angry voter splattered former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott with an egg in 2001. Here, though ordinary people now more than ever, are concerned about issues of governance and rampant mismanagement of public resources, we are far from effectively shaming our leaders this way.
Sending tonnes of rotten maize might not really get the ears of the powers that be over the latest scandal at NCPB. Yet year-in-year-out news headlines have screamed about the outrageous sums of money stolen from public coffers. The corrupt are the number one enemies of Kenya today, but not much effort is being spared to fight it. Unless a concerted effort is made to identify and shame those who steal from us, we are doomed.
And that is where the media comes in. Our journalists have merely reported what has been happening and not really dug up to tell us more. The style of reporting still remains reminiscent of past era where journalists remained fearful and failed to offend anyone.
Muckraking journalism
Those willing to offend, the likes of columnist David Ndii have had to leave mainstream newspapers and now use blogs to pass their muckraking journalism to the audience. Unfortunately, not many Kenyans access these blogs.
In the colonial period, in as much as Mau Mau freedom fighters made the occupation by British settlers very difficult, the ultimate push- factor came from a much unexpected source.
The British colonial government had just reviewed its policy on Africa and Asia in 1959 and projected to maintain the colonies for another 20 years or more, but according to Eileen Fleischer, a reporter, colonial authorities in Kenya were relaying false information to London about the true state of affairs in Kenya. In her report Fleischer; The truth about Kenya, an eye-witness account, published in 1956 in a Quaker periodical Peace News gave a graphic detail of how Mau Mau detainees had been mishandled. In the case of the Hola Camp, for example, security officers killed 11 detainees in just one day. This was a turning point for Kenya.
Fleischer’s report disturbed the political elites back in Britain, mainly the progressive center-left Labour party. And a debate ensued on whether it was really worthwhile to maintain the colony.
Of course, Britain had other issues that had weakened its grip on colonies spread across the world. The bottom line is; a journalist ultimately dealt the final blow to colonialism even though the insurgency might have been the main reason the British felt the pressure to undertake those inhumane activities against the natives Kenya.
Fight corruption
Today Kenya is at a defining moment where the weakest link towards an economic take off is corruption. Once we eliminate this dragon, prosperity is just around the corner. Frankly, to expect the government to fight corruption is to be naïve.The entire chain within the government hierarchy benefits one way or another from the proceeds of corruption. Gone are the days when foreign envoys dictated how we should govern ourselves.
Kenya is no longer dependent on Western largesse like during the 1980’s when the government received unaudited direct financial aid to balance its budget. Such tokens are now gone. Whatever Kenya gets in terms of loans or support from either the East or the West is at the behest of the Executive branch of the government.
To put the government on its toes, therefore, requires fearless journalism where headlines don’t just scream about cases of corruption, but go much deeper to name and shame individuals suspected of such misdemeanours. Just mentioning that ‘a powerful Jubilee Party politician is suspected of graft’ is not enough. What Kenyans now need is an operation similar to the ‘shock and awe’ invasion of Iraq by the US in early 1990’s.
The final end of this game should be clear. Let’s all together start the onslaught.The enemy is visible.The “weapons of mass destruction” against the enemy are the pen, ink and paper. In the modern terms; the key board shall deliver the final blow to corruption. Let us see more sizzling and probing journalism coming onto the pages of the newspapers. Kenyans deserve better.
Mr Guleid is a governance consultant and the chairman, FCDC Secretariat; guleid@fcdc.or.ke
