Why Kenyans can’t feel impact of the Big Four agenda

Jubilee government’s Big Four agenda belongs to the world of socio-economic reforms. Ideally, such reforms should have a solemn face, a face that communicates seriousness of the transformative programme. If implemented effectively and genuinely it has the power to transform our country in big ways.

However, the programme cannot heedlessly borrow style and substance from the kind of advertising embraced by the world of fashion. Such an approach primarily thrives on fancy fads cleverly crafted to seduce customers. That won’t work, Kenyans need to believe in and own the agenda.

Currently, the Big Four agenda is struggling in a cesspit motivated by empty fads. Indeed, the only way to give the Big Fourcampaign the traction it deserves — and firmly tattoo it in the collective psyche of Kenyans — is to evolve a special idiom around what it embodies. 

Such an idiom would yield tangible results if it spoke to the hearts of Kenyans. It would entail crafting of messages that carry down-to-earth, memorable and persuasive illustrations. The messages should mirror cultural and linguistic sensibilities of Kenya’s 40-plus odd communities. 

Five broad ideas could help take the Big Four agenda to the people and make it part of their aspirations. First, we may need an umbrella punch-line that infuses life into the Big Four proposition and narrative. We could start by having an over-arching one in Kiswahili. Then partnering with various media houses — TV and radio — broadcasting in local languages and craft a series of local punch-lines appealing to targeted communities. To spice things up, we could adopt jingles derived from popular songs known to various communities.  

It is also necessary to engage niche TV and radio stations (and they are plenty) that specifically focus on areas of direct interest of the Big Four agenda. Second, it is important to design a vibrant online campaign with fresh weekly — if not daily dosages — of well-choreographed Big Four-related messages. The online space is where the majority of would-be converts converge. Animation, quick-bite messages and illustrations should be channeled through the online platform in an easy and fun way. 

Three, a community education and mobilisation effort should enlighten the public about the ABCs of the Big Four as well as anticipated results. And this is this critical because most people only mind such business as the Big Four when they are able to identify with them at a personal level. Again, the jargon of technocrats should be unpacked and presented in a language and manner friendly to people. 

Four, there is a part of the Big Four agenda that calls for mindset change among Kenyans. We need to convince more Kenyans that a patient can be treated in India without draining hard-earned savings of relatives. Food security also requires Kenyans to acknowledge that maize is only one of many options they have for staple food. Further, it is time we deliberately encouraged Kenyans to appreciate that importing goods we could manufacture locally is not very clever. 

Regarding housing, Kenyans must appreciate that decent houses are not necessarily those built in the conventional ways we have always built them. Stabilised bricks and precast technology, to name a few, can deliver decent houses at discounted rates. Five, we must make the Big Four a peoples’ agenda and not necessarily a Jubilee government’s programme. That is the only way to win full support from the public. As long as the Big Four initiative is perceived to be a ‘government thing’ the pace of implementation, support and buy-in required of such a noble agenda, will suffer irreparably.

-The writer is Kiambu Women Representative and a Women Studies Ph.D student at University of Nairobi