Disability is not Inability

:: But will it all end well?

That to a large extent depends on the media, Civil Society and the politicians. The media here represents the referees who decide the level of voter understanding of opinion built by the various political groups. The role of debates like NEWSLINE on KTN and AGENDA KENYA on air in Nation TV will determine to a large extent the major positions and emotions through which we defend those positions. The battle need to be fought within some form of accepted constitutional structures for it to be well with our motherland.

The media challenge is to empower civic responsibility in a manner that significantly improve our ability as a nation to move forward on the basis of one Kenyan spirit as diverse in expressions as it may come. And this need to be done within the environment of governance structures we all believe in.

Democracy is built on governance by agreed institutions that are seen to be no respector of persons. Corruption institutions are failing because they can only catch the small fish. The DO who used armed Admninistration police to defend an alleged corrupt dealing is remnisent of what they do higher up on both sides of the divide.
That is way everybody charged with corruption is in politics. The higher you go the harder for KACC to catch you. You will either invoke tribal feelings to defend their son or legal chess, sometime even use the tribal gangs as the Mungikis.


It is with this in mind that every time i sit and watch what we call media civic education programmes, at the free flow manner they are managed terrifies me. Take an example of the NEWSLINE programme. The question was is there equal distribution of resources in Kenya? Now, the answers to that question depend on alot of things at this historical moment. If you are giving a report of the Kibaki administration then you have to answer the questions basing on the current constitutional despensation. So the only way out would be to compare Kibaki regime with Moi's Regime; or against what He Kibaki promised during the 2002 elections.

If however you are searching for better ways to make the resources be more equally distributed then an understanding of the current failures and recommendations for new ways should be included. This would be a fantatsic opportunity to evaluate the current governance structures and therefore the need for changes in the constitutional and Legistlative benchmarks.

Now the debates during these civic education programmes are increasingly the place where majority of major opinions are made built reinforced and defended. The Kibaki administration has not effectively played the game. Infact the usualy clear thinking Education Assistant Minister Kilemi Mweria admited on SHOWDOWN in Nation TV that the government will not be evaluated in the coming elections on the work it has done in the last five years but on some other issue like tribal arithmetics in government offices.

The role of the media in ensuring that civic responsibility is guided within existing governance structures is paramount to successful midwifery of the the explosive political labour pains. The civic education resultant in the debates need more careful guidance both in the direction of the constitutional review and coming elections.

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