Category Archives: Kenyaelection07

Election year inflation

The elections are a few weeks away and assets are disposed of and savings converted into consumer spending and other election-related services. People are being warned to be careful with their SUV’s (lest they are stolen to be used in rural campaigns and dumped)

There are 210 constituencies in the country and one estimate of the cost of running a viable campaign is set at about 10 million shillings ($150,000) – and this can be as high as 100 million shillings (where titans are battling it out to enter Parliament)

Scenes from the Nairobi show
Also known as the Nairobi international trade fair (which ended on Sunday October 7)
Traffic to the showground was so bad along Ngong road, that it was better and faster to detour along Kibera. I asked one very tired policeman about this and he replied that the heavy traffic was not related to the trade fair – just that vehicles never cease coming no matter how long directs the traffic (too many cars)
– Visiting an impressive stand, I’m reminded that long before Vice President Moody Awori spruced up the Prisons Department, it was highly regarded for the good quality furniture that they i.e. prisoners used to (and still) produce and which the department would sell to the public
– A yellow Humvee is a big draw for all the school kids even though they are not allowed near it
– I was able to get my social security statement from the NSSF stand, but my stockbroker could not give me a statement! (They were not online). The NSSF also gave a friendly reminder to patrons to top up their contributions otherwise they would receive very little when they retired
– Ice cream vendors almost every 10 yards. And the way it was hot, they were all doing roaring business
JKUAT (University) enterprises produce a variety of juices, jams, soaps and lotions.
– A drunk high school student being hauled out of the show grounds by his colleagues. I later passed them outside the showground and noticed they have wisely removed their school uniforms – otherwise they could have bundled into a police wagon to be paraded on the evening news.

The Press Filter

A glance at the weekend newspapers shows government departments putting up paid advertisements in the newspaper. These include the permanent secretary – Ministry of Finance setting the record straight on the country’s domestic debt position, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Justice on parliament’s recent amendment to curb powers of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission and even the government spokesman (who’s the equivalent of a permanent secretary) on thetribal balance of the government (through an ad placed in all papers including the Nairobi star)

Of course its’ not just the government that has trouble getting their ‘facts’ out before the media – the Kenya land alliance on the Land Bill, former MP Basil Criticos claiming the government ‘grabbed’ his sisal farm, the National Bank of Kenya defending the government in the Criticos land sale etc.

With four major TV stations and a dozen newspapers and radio stations, the amount of stories churned out by the media is endless. But with politics dominating most of the media channels during this election year, it is easy for important facts to be addressed by interested parties – and the only way they can be assured that their story will be transmitted verbatim – no editing, slanting, filtering, or even buried by the media – to the public is by paying for an advertisement themselves – at a cost of about 70,000 shillings (about $1,000)

However, there’s a flip side to this. A media story is supposed to be balanced – and by placing a statement in the papers, they are telling their side of the story without challenge, or argument – and without an opposing view, a paid up statement is just an advertisement.

Election briefs

– The Electoral Commission of Kenya has enabled registered voters to check on the status of their vote eligibility online – just by entering a nation ID number or voter’s card number.

– Botswana residents living in Kenya have been invited to register to vote at the country’s high commission in Nairobi this month. That’s something Kenyans in the Diaspora can pressure for their local embassies to do for them also in future.