The Myths about the Kenyan public.

As the NMG celebrates 50 years of serving Kenyans, one cannot help but wonder how far Kenya has come as a ‘democracy’. It is quite clear by now that a nation’s good governance is heavily reliant on its citizen’s ability to engage the government. Although a healthy democracy depends on the ability of citizens to directly affect the public policies central to their lives, the current system has little room for genuine citizen input and influence. Having said that, we must acknowledge the role played by the media in bridging this gap. In a government system where information is not considered a public good, the Kenyan media must begin to realize the heavy responsibility bestowed upon them to ensure that the Kenyan public remains well informed.

For this to happen however, the media must come to terms with what has come to be known as the 3 greatest myths of the Kenyan public. The first myth is that the Kenyan public will not participate in policy making and are happy to leave the job to our politicians. Recent history has shown an increase discontent among Kenyans with the way politicians are handling public issues. The reaction to recent scandals i.e. the maize, FPE, among others is but a simple indication of the dissatisfaction. Kenyans are ready to drive policies but the media must create a conducive environment for that to happen by continuing to highlight government business. The second myth is that Kenyans are not competent enough to deal with policy matters. All you have to do is look at how our designated policy makers perform their tasks to know that this is not true. As consumers of government services, no one can be more competent than the public to state how the said services should be delivered. Therefore, to assume that we the public need a crush course in order to provide meaningful contributions to the policy making processes absolute nonsense. The third and most important myth is that Kenyans will not be able to rise above self-interest on behalf of the common good. It is no secret that Kenya experienced the worst ethnic violence in 2008. However, the politicians have continued to capitalize on this dived by pursuing their tribal chief positions. I speak for the Kenyan public when I say that all we want is a proper functioning government and if we have to keep using outsiders, the likes of Kofi Annan and the ICC to prove the point, then we will. Our politicians cannot continue to hide under the tribal cocoons and using our names to justify their misplaced actions.

I therefore applaud our media for the good job it has continued to do and remind them that Kenyans will act so long as they continue to do their job right.