Re: [kictanet] Election fiasco reveals Technological dinosaurs
Dear all, I totally agree with this and I happened to intentionally listen to some of the vernacular radio stations during the elections day (names undisclosed) and the content was quite inciting and tribal. As Geoffrey is saying I don't think there is anyone in Kenya today who does not understand Kiswahili and therefore we can have them using Swahili or English restrictively. We happen to have quite a number of English stations Kiss, Easy, Classics, Capital e.t.c and every morning as I go work I hear different people enjoying breakfast shows from different stations and as a result all of them are competing but are in business. The suggestions made earlier of the ICT bill and media self regulation helping to resolve the issue is not very practical considering for example that you need a Kikuyu to understand inciting information emanating from a Kikuyu radio station and the same with other tribes. Given the tribal alignment that we are seeing even in professional organizations media regulation may follow suit where we may have those supposed to ensure conformity being compromised because it is their tribe that is being affected. Radio stations should use languages that are nationally understandable to all. Regards, James Kagwe ********************************************************************* Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis Bishops Garden Towers Bishops Road P.O. Box 56445 Nairobi, Kenya Tel: (254) 20 2719933, 2719934, 2714714, 2714715 Fax: (254) 20 2719951 Confidentiality Warning ======================= The contents of this e-mail and any accompanying documentation are confidential and any use thereof, in what ever form, by anyone other than the addressee is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify admin@kippra.or.ke and delete it immediately from your system. Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis accepts no responsibility for losses or damage as a result of any viruses and it is your responsibility to check attachments (if any) for viruses. -----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+jkagwe=kippra.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+jkagwe=kippra.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Geoffrey Shimanyula Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 3:18 PM To: James Kagwe Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Election fiasco reveals Technological dinosaurs Dr. Ndemo et al, I wish to attempt to my one cent worth of contribution this mailing list by giving a story of my early schooling. Having started my schooling in a rural setting, vernacular was one of the lessons that we had to learn. The unfortunate thing was that the dialect we were learning was quite different from that which we spoke back at home. I now understand the reason for that being that no one had ever published a book in our dialect. To this date, I see no value in having learnt that dialect for it does not help me in my every day life today. Fast forward to December 30th 2008 and for the first time, my children ask me what tribe they are. This is because they are descendants of a mixed marriage. For them, the language to use is English or Kiswahili depending on the audience. And the only reason why they asked me this is because they heard of the tribal fighting's that were going on around the country. I am saying all this because as one of the contributors to this forum stated recently, over 60% of KENYANS are literate and when I say literate here I mean those who can utter a word or two in English because Kiswahili is by-and-large used all over the country with the flavor varying from one region to another. I believe that we need to be confident enough to let "other" people understand that which is being spoken and by this I am referring to the FM radio stations that use proprietary languages/dialects. I am not in any way against radio stations having a niche in terms of captive audience but I believe that they can still achieve their objective in a transparent language in this case - Kiswahili. This way, we shall eliminate all sorts of mistrusts that we are seeing today in this beautiful country. We don't need these vernacular radio stations in a country that is striving to move from the LDC quadrant. Regards, Shim... -----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+gshimanyula=ke.uu.net@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+gshimanyula=ke.uu.net@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of bitange@jambo.co.ke Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 7:47 PM To: gshimanyula@ke.uu.net Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Election fiasco reveals Technological dinosaurs Dear Yawe, Asante sana. You have said it all. We need your participation in reaching all our villages and shanties with the hope of creating wealth there. If we manage to create wealth for our people and they use that wealth to acquire properties, there will be less conflict because they have something to lose. Where I live, I know two politicians from both sides but what is striking is that they are good neighbours. They jealously guard their properties but their supporters in Kibera and Mathare fight and even kill one another. The ICT Bill is coming up and we need your views on Venacular FM stations. Perhaps we all need to revist Nyerere's philosopy of undugu. There is much to learn from our neighbours in TZ. Bitange Ndemo. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: gshimanyula@ke.uu.net Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/gshimanyula%40ke.uu .net _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: jkagwe@kippra.or.ke Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jkagwe%40kippra.or. ke
Hello Kagwe, I agree to the ban, but only in temporary extraordinary circumstances. In situations where nationhood is at stake. Resorting to blanket ethnic stations bans is not a cure pointing to banning vernacular all over; schools, forces, workplaces, including at our homes (READ Freedom) Such bans punish rural folks who speak mainly or only in vernacular. Thus succeeding in burying the real problem deeper which I still insist is not tribalism. The ban would be a sacrificial, symptom, and cosmetic treatment not the real cure the disease. Our problem is corruption and resulting spoils-both real and perceived. We need to honestly address this problem which will otherwise persist even if the current situation is negotiated out of. Corruption is so lucrative, compelling ridiculous business persons 'investments' in their "person" aspirants/candidate. Its a business that promises insane profits and rewards. --<snip>-- [International Herald Tribune] STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY: KENYA "Corruption trumps tribalism" By Simon Roughneen January 10, 2008 -- (page 2) Given these realities, perhaps an effective way to influence Kenya would be to discourage tourism, forcing its leaders to establish a mental link between corrupt government and empty hotels. This is not as far-fetched as it might sound: During the recent violence, a warning by the British Foreign Office advising travelers to avoid Kenya was followed hours later with some conciliatory statements from both Kibaki and Odinga. Both Odinga and Kibaki have traded mutual allegations of genocide and ethnic cleansing. But while the deaths of hundreds of people and the displacement of thousands more is tragic, it is not genocide. Reckless language can spur more attacks and create an uncontrollable situation, irrespective of what political dialogue can be arranged in the coming days. But some form of an interim national unity government may yet be sorted out, perhaps paving the way for either a decisive recount or an election rerun." <http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/10/opinion/edrough.php?page=2> --snip-- Why bother repeating so many known corruptions? The stations serve to report corruption in the language understood by rural folk thus it risks being viewed as gagging media stations to shield corruption. We should avoid being drawn into corruption camps going by many names tribalism and banning stations may be seen as one of many convenient excuses. We need to build a new society but one that does not punish innocent people denying them basic right to receive information or communicate for who they are. That would violate Section 79. (1) of the Constitution: Protection of freedom of expression. http://www.bunge.go.ke/downloads/constitution.pdf Regards self-regulation: Are you suggesting that the government controls various media content? Hope not and urge you to see self-regulation as curtailing big government high-handedness and extension of opaqueness and continued indulgence in corruption which is our core problem. Furthermore, when government assumes role of defining social standards and morallity policing, it could outlaw languages or "tribal" cultures etc in the name of official fight against tribalism citing recent events for example. My response is influenced by http://www.kippra.org/ mission statement. I would appreciate your reaction. Alex On Jan 10, 2008 5:23 PM, James Kagwe <jkagwe@kippra.or.ke> wrote:
Dear all,
I totally agree with this and I happened to intentionally listen to some of the vernacular radio stations during the elections day (names undisclosed) and the content was quite inciting and tribal.
As Geoffrey is saying I don't think there is anyone in Kenya today who does not understand Kiswahili and therefore we can have them using Swahili or English restrictively.
We happen to have quite a number of English stations Kiss, Easy, Classics, Capital e.t.c and every morning as I go work I hear different people enjoying breakfast shows from different stations and as a result all of them are competing but are in business.
The suggestions made earlier of the ICT bill and media self regulation helping to resolve the issue is not very practical considering for example that you need a Kikuyu to understand inciting information emanating from a Kikuyu radio station and the same with other tribes.
Given the tribal alignment that we are seeing even in professional organizations media regulation may follow suit where we may have those supposed to ensure conformity being compromised because it is their tribe that is being affected.
Radio stations should use languages that are nationally understandable to all.
participants (2)
-
Alex Gakuru -
James Kagwe