Fred Matiang'i order on State advertising horribly out of order

Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and Technology Fred Matiang’i has directed all Government ministries, State corporations, foreign missions and county governments to submit their advertisements to the newly-formed Government Advertising Unit in a bid to cut down on cost. According to Dr Matiang’i, advertising online using the Government portal would cut costs by more than half.

No one can reasonably be opposed to Government’s efforts to minimise costs and wastage of public resources at all costs. However, it is as plain as a pikestaff the latest ministerial fiat is not out to serve any cost-cutting purpose! Looked at critically, one sees a clever way of attempting to control the media.

For a Government that has shown utter disdain for the media, especially print, this latest move is suspect. For in the end, private and independent media houses are worth billions of investments both in capital assets and human capital. Another way of looking at it is that for an administration that seems to be running from one crisis after another, silencing the media may look effectual in the short term. The thinking being that if media houses go bowl in hand begging for advertisement contracts, they may have to enter into certain agreements that would not embarrass the Government.

That is too simplistic. In truth, the media industry remits almost Sh10 billion as tax to the Government. One therefore wonders what the rationale is behind the draconian and anti-business move.

Basic economics will dissuade any Government from killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Saving Sh1.8 billion and losing Sh10 billion is simply absurd economics. The multiplier effect from muzzling the press and thereby rendering thousands of employees: from journalists, accountants, sales and marketing, deliveries, IT, to the vendors jobless, boggles the mind.

The move amplifies the incoherence in the policies of the Jubilee administration. On one hand, it wants to create employment, on the other, it is laying in place a situation where thousands stand to lose their livelihoods. Yet in a country where known ‘tenderprenuers’ roam government offices brokering tenders worth billions, one will understand where the push for an opaque system that is prone to abuse and corruption is coming from.

To them, another layer of red tape seems right. Since his appointment, it seems that anything the Cabinet Secretary has touched has gone awry; from the contentious Media Bills, to the Digital Migration, to the Freedom of Information Act, Dr Matiangi’s actions portray a lack of wide consultation and consensus-driven decisions. It must not be forgotten that everyone is free to do business with Government. The media are not an exception.

 

Why Dr Matiang’i has zeroed in on the media can only be interpreted as a desire to create a weak messenger that cannot criticise the establishment.

This poses an existential threat to democracy and freedom. In fact, the law is clear that tenders for projects funded through taxes should be advertised in two of the country’s newspapers with a national reach. Now, digital advertisement, though cheap, does not have the reach of the target audience. Print media therefore remains the largest and preferred source of information.

Annual global readership of newspapers, according to the World Association of Newspapers, stands at 2.5 billion people, while the online or digital platform is at 800 million people. When the statistics are narrowed down to Kenya, the numbers are negligible.

One would imagine that partnering with a free media like Kenya’s, on the basis of openness and mutual trust, is the best way through which the Government can sell its policies to the public.

The Fourth Estate remains the citizen’s guarantee for their inalienable constitutional rights and the watchdog against avarice and the excesses of their leadership and institutions.