Opinion & Analysis Media and challenges for NarcSince the Narc Government came to power last December, I took leave from writing my weekly column in the Sunday Nation and decided to concentrate on my ministerial duties in the Ministry of Planning and National Development. I have, however, remained an avid reader of our newspapers so as to keep close to social discourse and the goings-on in the country. Nine months have now gone, and an interesting phenomenon is taking place in our mass media. This is the phenomenon of increasing sensationalism. Next to it is the passionate love for cynicism and the "tearing down of straw men" by many weekly commentaries in our leading papers. Perhaps the only serious paper we have left today is The EastAfrican. I also like the business sections of the Daily Nation and The East African Standard. Whenever the two papers carry out interviews with leading personalities and artistes they do a good job. There are special features that are very informative and historically invaluable. I like the Sunday Nation's Carol Mandi and the Saturday Nation's Oyunga Pala; whenever they write you can feel the depth of intellect and a human touch not laced with any pretences of "cleverness." Phillip Ochieng has a fascinating mind and incisive criticism always laden with facts. His schooling in political economy, deep knowledge of philosophy and love for literature make his writing fascinating even when you disagree with him. He once called me a "Marxist Cassandra"! In spite of my many pleas with him to justify this claim, he has carefully dodged the subject. Numerous challenges I do not think that the Narc Government has done its best for Kenyans, nor do I think that we have given up the hope of doing our best for Kenyans. The enthusiasm with which we took over the reigns of government has been met with numerous challenges, some of them of our own making. While the public would have been quite happy to give us 80 per cent for what we have done, we are scoring 60 per cent since the expectations were so high. We in government need to pay attention to two recent accusations: Alleged corruption in government and the other relates to the constitutional review process at the Bomas of Kenya. Let me begin with the first one. The Government now has a law that deals with corruption. This is the Economic Crimes and Anti-Corruption Law. This law established the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission. The Government also has a Permanent Secretary in charge of Ethics, Mr John Githongo, who is doing a sterling job. The Office of the President also has the Efficiency Monitoring Unit that recently handled allegations in the National Aids Control Council very professionally after allegations of corruption had been flying around for almost a year. To do justice professionally and in accordance with the rule of law takes time, and this may at times frustrate passions for instantaneous justice. There are a number of Bills in the pipeline that will help in further institutionalising the fight against corruption. They will be tabled in Parliament when it resumes sitting at the end of the month. These are the Privatisation Bill, the Government Procurement Bill, the Finance Management Bill, the Audit and Control Bill, and the Investment Code Bill. The Public Officers Ethics Act is already being implemented. The Chief Justice took a bold step to appoint a reform and development committee to help revamp the Judiciary and eliminate institutionalised corruption. We do believe that the above institutions are already at work regarding the corruption allegations and no amount of sensationalisation will improve or detract from their work. All the Government can say is that we deeply share the agony that these allegations have caused to Kenyans, and we shall ensure that our zero tolerance for corruption is not in any way betrayed. Kenyans must appreciate the fact that the Government believes in building an open society. This means that a lot that might not have reached the light of day during the previous regime are now coming out. It also means that when certain people get to hear stories that are simply hearsay, they take it as the gospel truth and broadcast it on top of mountains. This may, at times, make democratic governance somehow messy, but it is a mess we have to live with in the process of building democracy. Allegations of corruption have been made regarding two or so government officials. The conclusion derived, however, is much more alarming. Some people have argued that the whole government is being engulfed in corruption. This is not true. Without in any way condoning what might have gone wrong, many of us who are toiling day and night to make this economy prosper genuinely feel that this tendency towards sensationalising important issues is not in the best interest of building an open society. We are, however, happy to be judged by very high standards so that we can maintain a high degree of probity. Let me now go back to the second issue: this is the Bomas talks. A school of thought has arisen that believes that the Government is hell bent on sabotaging the constitutional review process. The evidence they get is from "the side shows" at the Bomas of Kenya. The critics have never really sought the opinions of some of us who go to Bomas and quietly scrutinise the Draft Constitution clause by clause in the various committees. I do believe that our views matter. In any case, some of us have been in the struggle for constitutional reform from the very dark days that it would be a contradiction in terms to be a reformer and a saboteur of the process at the same time. In one of his columns, Ochieng once quoted Mao � and I have used the same quotation as well � that one who does not investigate should not have the right to speak. And that is why I like his writings and those of Carol Mandi and Oyunga Pala. I have, in the last couple of weeks, been reading commentaries and analyses in our two dailies to the effect that the Government has not delivered on its promises except for free education. First, we never said that we would deliver everything in one year, let alone one month. Second, we said that we would plan in the process of executing our promises. This is why we have launched the Strategy for Economic Recovery for Wealth and Employment Creation, 2003-2007. It is shocking to read the lack of depth in the analyses of this strategy. Third, we said that we would look for resources to implement our plan. We were determined to increase domestic savings, enhance revenue collection and seek to finance development through a private-public sector partnership. The planning ministry drew up an Investment Programme after the budget. This programme is being discussed with various stakeholders before the President launches it at a National Investment Conference on November 20-21. It is interesting to note that the two leading daily newspapers gave this a blackout when I launched the drive towards the Investment Conference on September 10 in my ministry. Some time ago, President Kibaki unveiled a Sh340 million investment at the Nairobi Business Park that the papers ignored, preferring a story on marriage across two generations! When I wondered aloud in the presence of one of the editors why this strange preference for sensationalism over development matters, the answer was simple: "Development does not sell"! It is also clear from the evidence emerging from the Ministry of Finance and the Investment Promotion Centre that there is increasing interest in investment in Kenya. This contrasts with the commentaries that note that the economic recovery programme is no longer on the government�s order form. One commentary even suggested that rather than plan for capital investment, we should run the whole economy through harambee! Whether one is reading the tabloids or the dailies, it is quite clear that one will not read about the serious things that are happening in government. Our newspapers would rather emulate the sensational The Sun newspaper of London rather than build on the rigour of the Daily Telegraph in England or the New York Times in the US. In other words, it must be forever presumed that our dailies are there to entertain in order to sell and not sell in order to educate and develop our nation! This is a sad commentary on the future of this nation. All, however, is not lost. I enjoy the editorials of the two dailies. They are always serious and focused, advising without preaching. They tend to hit where it matters, and spare no words to reveal the shameful. The editorials have been emphasising the need to improve security. The lesson has not fully sunk in. We in government need to learn good lessons from the editorials. There are times, however, that the editors should read the analyses and commentaries in their own papers and write some editorials that can help this nation. This nation needs reconciliation in order to come out of many years of authoritarian underdevelopment. Some of our commentators are hell bent on exaggerating our differences and cheering belligerent political hawks to fight on. Let us learn to give and take. Let us struggle to build a political culture of inclusion and not of exclusion. There are also times that I feel some of our commentators do not really appreciate the difference between reform and development. You reform in order to develop. While you are reforming you may not immediately reap the fruits of reform that is development. Twenty five years after the decay of our economy as well as our institutions, Kenya was unlikely to grow by leaps and bounds soon after Narc took over. We needed a period of serious reform. Reform quite often meets with resistance, and resistance from all kinds of sections of society can be very annoying and frustrating. The reforms spelt out in the Narc Manifesto, the Economic Recovery Strategy and the Budget are still on. One of them is the fight against corruption. Many entrenched interests have been resisting these reforms. During this period of transition, saboteurs have emerged from diverse quarters, even from within the newspaper world itself. Create confusion Saboteurs can strike with words as well as weapons. They can misinform in order to create confusion and antagonisms. They can exaggerate misunderstandings among colleagues in order to saw seeds of conflict. They can kill people at random in order to create a state of insecurity where the people begin to doubt a reformist government such as ours. This happened in South Africa soon after the ANC took over the government from the apartheid regime. Many reformist regimes in Latin America have had to endure similar problems during transitions from authoritarianism to democratic governance. Kenyans have, however, remained vigilant, and the atmosphere of freedom in an open society has helped. We need to build on the virtues of an open society and not destroy them by a defensive attitude in government when criticised, or a sensational approach to issues by the media when discussing public issues. If we do so, we shall defeat the saboteurs and shame the devil. Comments\Views about this article |
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