Jubilee grand merger and ODM @10: Split TV screens and the role of media in political communication

Jubilee grand merger and ODM @10: Split TV screens and the role of media in political communication

photo credit:tuko.co.ke

By MUSYOKA NGUI

A big whale swallowed 11 fish at Kasarani in Nairobi. At the same time, the “largest constitutional party” in Kenya got its electricity transmission outage when its foremost principal was on the lectern. Welcome to Kenya 2017 Elections.

I must say that I spent the better day doing my thing as it were. The Idd Ul Adha Monday holiday break just extended my otherwise short weekend full of the green dot online omnipresence.

Journalists of repute flocked to Safaricom Stadium to “cover history” while others flew to the blue waters of Mombasa to witness either Raila declared de facto presidential flag bearer for Cord or shelving his fourth presidential dream.

Word went round that delegates at Kasarani were pocketing Sh.10000 per day translating to 30,000 for the three days of convention. The red party had logistical issues covered. From standby generators to mellow music to lots of space to dance and everything in between.

At one point, JP resorted to ushering in opposition party rebels and sitting politicians from the entire breadth of Kenyan ballot. Clearly, it was harvest season for JP that fashioned itself as the “national” and “unity” party while hurling epithets at the checker of government excesses that the latter were ethnic enclaves.

But on Friday night delegates threw a stinking egg on the face of DP Ruto when they claimed that they were not paid their allowances raising questions of cash flow. DP, with his charm straight from the land of Magufuli landed and went headlong to pander the whims of the party loyalists saying that “we are not just the JP but we are the government”.

But the straw that broke the proverbial Cord camel’s back was the eloquent UK’s speech that chose not to dwell on the Opposition but concentrate on the 2017 agenda and the perceived government “achievements”.

40 MPs, senators and governors crossed the floor and sat at the presidential dais. Yet they did not lose their seats and continue to draw salaries from their sponsor whom they have formerly filled the divorce papers. The season of political prostitution cannot be more scandalous.

But the self-acknowledged minorities in the Jubilee train chose to wax how they were lost and now they have been found and they have broken the shackles of Pharaoh and headed to Canaan. Ukambani artists namely Chipukisi and Vaati headlined the show that was filled with flamboyance and opulence. Have you asked yourself why the majority owners chose to watch rather than act? It’s PR. You got it.

Anyway, while JP was organized and calm, ODM was chaotic and restless. But the embarrassment of letting Baba terminate his speech prematurely will be the bane of KP who have now become the poster child of rude customer service and incompetent state company.

Without a doubt, the conspicuous absence of Cord co-principals Musyoka and Weta will only cement the JP’s propaganda rhetoric that there is discord in Cord. But the unnoted no show of the so called Third Force will remain the regret of prodigal sons who bit the hands that fed them. Over to you the voter.

Top Kitui Village Admins Speak On First Day in Office

Top Kitui Village Admins Speak On First Day in Office

I

 am told that they first call you an MCA before borrowing bad loans from you. If you don’t comply they call you their Governor now that the Senate is officially an empty shell.

By MUSYOKA NGUI

For me, writing is both therapeutic and liberating. There is some form of freedom that comes from passing a message across. Regardless. Not media freedom nor the freedom of speech. Something else out of this world.

It is emptying a heart out, venting thoughts and freeing up memory. For another space to occupy. 

Today I write about my day out with a newly appointed village administrator. You see when the County Government came up people started angling for opportunities. Devolution fruits, as it were. Turns out that it wasn’t what we had bargained for.

In media circles we got talking. Therefore I set out on a mission to understand what these niggers will be doing. Are their positions constitutional? Are they going to assist the now new sheriffs in the villages the so called Ward Administrators? Are they going to be the gubernatorial campaigners at the grassroots? How many are they?

On this first day I called a cousin who was appointed. She was collecting her appointment letter at the County Public Service Board HQ, the otherwise famed bastion of sleaze, they say.

After giggling for some seconds, she went on to wax lyrical that actually that job pays. Confirming the scandalizing rumors that the so called governor’s right hand spanner spinners will be well remunerated.

So when are you beginning your gig siz? This month ending. Have you resigned yet from your current post? Nope. I want to take my last pay first then quit.

Okay.

Next Village Admin was my typical boy in the village. By all inner village standards, he is an influencer. A serving community leader by his own right and a successful business man, with a young family, the appointment gives him the buttress roots he wants for stability and raising his young family.

But I pity the Village Admins because the public are conditioned to beg from their leaders by the political class of this Kenya. Their little earnings will be depleted by wananchi requesting for tea at the local Mama.

School committees, wedding planners and funeral mourners will find a convenient target to milk county cash. After all, he is our leader. The last man standing of the “able H.E. Gov.”

I am told that they first call you an MCA before borrowing bad loans from you. If you don’t comply they call you their Governor now that the Senate is officially an empty shell.

My third interaction was with a Village Admin candidate.  As you can guess he was all sweaty and anxious that the proverbial axe could fall on him that the front runners in the village job were wives of assistant chiefs and serving veteran chiefs. The only thing that is between me and that job, is prayers, says he. I am hoping that God will answer my prayers. The rest is Chemistry. I am told by his close friends that he quietly penned that resignation letter and he is in the tail end of his exit strategy. I will miss that buddy. God help you.

What still baffles your former colleagues is that you chose to leave so unceremoniously. You must have gotten a better deal bro.

So to you the voter. Go slow on the Village Admin. Don’t entangle him with village politics and shenanigans.  He needs to deliver. Leave the chief campaigner alone to trumpet the credentials of the sitting king. You must be an enemy of development to point out that the king is naked. See no evil, hear no evil. Eat. Stupid.

When an editor misses the reader only keyboards understand

When an editor misses a reader only keyboards understand

When an editor misses the reader only keyboards understand/Photo:QUOTESGRAM.COM

By MUSYOKA NGUI

D

id you leave because they pay you better up there? Did you resign or you were sacked? Did you sink in debts or you got tired of volunteering?  How can I break my career? Well, simple, as you broke your prayer fasting, so do your career but not as virginity. No one wants that pain

Why did you stop writing? Are you still writing? What is wrong with you these days?

These are some of the curious questions I get from my readers these past 100 days of non-strict day to day media practice.

While I have no intention of educating anyone on how media is wide and knowledge diffuse, I find myself at pains to explain to those curser clickers that it is still the same game but different game. Same player.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not a comeback. It was never was. Never will be.  I write in my mind, in my thoughts, on my diary, on my phone, on papers, on keyboard, on tissues, on the palm and in many hearts and minds that read me globally.

But I have been getting an unfair rapping from the media colleagues and readers claiming that I have ditched media. Folks, I am in publishing, I am in Public Relations, I do newspaper articles whenever I can. I blog whenever I can like today. I miss my fans.

Apart from those unreplied WhatsApp messages and pending 1000 Facebook requests waiting for when the button will click, my Google Plus has been growing, my LinkedIn networks expanding but Twitter followers diminishing like it was the season of political defections in Kenya. People are switching loyalties.

Others are quick to give up. I no longer correspond with you. You never reply me. You are always busy. Well that is the damn truth. But no one tells a friend that you are being ignored or you are not the top priority right now. I too have been. It is not revenge, it is a cycle. Today you are up tomorrow you are down and life goes on.

Some solicit for news in the most pervert of ways. Ati where is Mr. Journalistic today? It’s long since we had updates. Truth is I also don’t know. Times citizen journalists do better reports than the scribes who criticized Jesus Christ.

Some are candid. They ask? Did you leave because they pay you better up there? Did you resign or you were sacked? Did you sink in debts or you got tired of volunteering?  How can I break my career? Well, simple, as you broke your prayer fasting, so do your career but not as virginity. No one wants that pain.

Nation Media Group shuts down three stations and merges two

Nation Media Group shuts down three stations and merges two

Nation Media House. Photo/Professional Consultants

By MUSYOKA NGUI

Nation Media Group has shut down three stations and merged two. NMG closed down Kenya’s Nation FM, QFM and Rwanda’s KFM. QTV has been merged with flagship brand NTV which will assume bilingual Kiswahili and English.

According to a memo sent out, the decision to shut down the multiple stations was attributed to embracing digital media and consolidating the East African market where the NMG operates.

The memo reads in part: "We are cognizant of the changing trends of how our products are being consumed. In line with this new reality, we are reorganizing ourselves with the aim of transforming NMG into a 21st century company by embracing digital as the business model,"
The whole idea, it seems is to stream live radio which again cuts against the grains of your regular radio listener who mainly is the rural population whose internet connectivity is to say the least, pathetic.

Nation Memo announcing clsoure of its stations. Photo/ Steve Mbego

It is this statement that leaves observers wondering how many online listeners can Nation have to command strong advertorial and editorial following. "We will also scale down our radio business (QFM and Nation FM) in Kenya and K FM in Rwanda. We will keep our signal alive and maintain an online presence in line with our new digital strategy,"
Kenya Union of Journalists has threatened to sue the NMG citing breach of Kenyan labor laws citing Section 40 of the Employment Act.

But those who remain hardly hit by the rationalization are the journalists who have been sacked effective being rendered jobless and redundant even as NMG promises that it will cushion them as they transition.

A journalist working for the media firm who spoke under the mask of anonymity said that he fears that the axe might be turned to him and others, adding that the sacking of top journos at the institution will send shockwaves across the media of Kenya ahead of 2017 polls.

“The top scribes leaving the Nation will come out here and take our jobs, hinder our promotion and hiring of fresh graduates.” The major players set to benefit from the exit of multiple channels owned by Nation are Royal Media and Radio Africa as well as Standard groups.

Elsewhere,  the Presidential Strategic Communication Unit has been disbanded sealing the fate of four staff majority former journalists safe for current State House Spokesman Manoah Esipisu. Dennis Itumbi, a top blogger and former journalist is among those affected.

Presidential communication team disbanded

Presidential communication team disbanded 

 

Dennis Itumbi at Chuka University at a past event.Photo/MUSYOKA NGUI

BY MUSYOKA NGUI

The Presidential Strategic Communication Unit (PSCU) was disbanded yesterday. That is what Citizen TV’s Terry Anne Chebet told her viewers in News-Just In update before reading the 9 pm bulletin. The script she read seemed again replicated at the Kenya's most popular TV station’s website. This is the link http://citizentv.co.ke/news/president-uhuru-kenyatta-disbands-his-communication-team-132023/

Those affected include Dennis Itumbi the Director of the Digital and Diaspora Communications, Munyori Buku the Senior Public Communications Director and Eric Ng’eno the head of Messaging. The other one on the list is James Kinyua who headed the Events and Branding section of PSCU.

Manoah Esipisu remains the State House Spokesperson and head of communication.

No doubt the State House is moving towards a more structured and organized communication. The PSCU is instrumental in shaping the image of the president and his deputy who are image- conscious and rode to power on the digital platform.

The government maintains a separate government spokesperson’s office currently held by Eric Kiraithe, a former police chief. Others who held the post in the past include Machakos Governor Dr. Alfred Mutua and Public Relations expert Muthui Kariuki

On the borderline: the blurred lines between PR and news reporting

On the borderline: the blurred lines between PR and news reporting

By MUSYOKA NGUI

In our media WhatsApp group we often get leads from news sources. The police, politicians, doctors, citizen journalists and fellow news editors and reporters.

At other times we get news from public relations officers and strategists keen on planting stories in various publications which we gate keep. Luckily, our nose for news can tell PRish stuff from public interest stories. That is why we ignore politicians and give human interest stories prominence. Non-negotiable matters of security, health, education resonate well with wananchi than mere bickering of politicians dancing on the graves of victims of maladministration.

For instance, there is no way a right thinking reporter would publish what is actually a press release passing for soft news and ignore the citizens who are seeking audience with county government on why water taps are dry. Nor would I ignore the plight of a potential squatters and publish the side of story of a private developer seeking to grab Mui Coal deposits or Ngaaie limestone gold just because the wananchi do not have access to media handlers.

UhuruRuto seems to get the workings of PR like no one else. Their vibrant presidential presses send stories to the media and get published. The “humble” presidential pair is able to be cast as accessible to the wananchi like in the case where both Uhuru and Ruto dined with the common people in their respective backyards.

They understand that image is important in dressing, public speaking and posturing on Twitter. But how should the reporters cut through the rhetoric of these barbs? Among the most compelling reporters able to pin down these fellows who “interview journalists” is Hussein Mohamed of Citizen TV’s Big Question program. He singlehandedly made Moses Kuria leave the show in a huff forgetting to even return the mic.

The media and PR swing both ways. As a matter of professional ethics, journalists should not be seen to work for commercial and political establishments. Media Council of Kenya CEO Dr. Haroun Mwangi has said as much.

Media firms must pay their staff well to be above brown and white envelopes. As Kenya heads to the electioneering period, the media will increasingly come under sharp focus. In 2007/8 they were indicted as fanning the flames of Post-Election Violence. In 2013 they self-censored. In 2017 they are likely to tread carefully even as they push the public agenda. Once bitten twice shy.

Tots tapping tablets to transform teaching

Tots tapping tablets to transform teaching

Standard One students have received tablets from Kenyan government. Photo/ICT Authority

Now we are facing a stark challenge of sustainability of such populist tablet project which as we know it, orgasmed before making out.

By MUSYOKA NGUI

Free tablets are here after the long wait. Jubilee administration has finally pulled the long shot that to Cord only reminds them that the manifesto said the Uhuruto promised free laptops and not free tablets.

Nursery and kindergarten kids are swiping away, as it were. Standard One kids are now the newest geeks in town.

What is not clear is if the requisite infrastructure is in place.  Instructively, the tablets are supposed to be stored in secure warehouses within the school compounds-something that is not entirely present in a section of the schools.

Education Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i has played a critical midwifery role in the digitization process. He is also the mastermind behind the overhaul of  8-4-4 system that for three decades was high on theory and low on practical.

Anyway, what the education mandarins should never forsake is the plight of the Kenyan teacher. The primary and secondary one whose sole responsibility is to mentor the youth intellectually and morally. Nothing is as insulting and disrespectful than the elite of this nation despising teachers who made them who they are both literally and figuratively yet they cannot bring themselves to increasing their salaries with 50-60 % rate even after courts ruled thrice in the favor of tutors.

The result is demoralized teaching fraternity, neglected and largely computer illiterate yet they are supposed to use the tablets to teach when they themselves need Computer Skills 101.

The government chose to introduce tablets instead of laptops unlike in Rwanda. Now we are facing a stark challenge of sustainability of such populist tablet  project which as we know it, orgasmed before making out. No matter the model, a tablet cannot stay in the market for more than a year. What will happen to the obsolete machines? Are we facing yet another environmental dumping challenge (after polythene papers) of computer spare parts left lying around without being recycled? Again, these kids might be affected by computers-the tablets.

INTERNET OF THINGS

While research shows that the more we get connected the more isolated and detached from reality and society we get, how will kids cope with being antisocial instead of learning interpersonal communication skills whey will be busy chatting online with strangers some of whom may prey on them.

Kids must be protected from negative internet. They are excitable and the adrenaline of the green dot can turn anyone even adults to addicts, zombies and lazybones only to succumb to obesity after sitting around eating as they  troll the internet all day without exercising as earlier generation children played outdoor, had real fun and visited relatives and friends.

Much will be said about how technology needs to be embraced but the problem is not the internet but how we use it.