National Land Commission Chairman Muhammad Swazuri said last Wednesday he did nothing wrong in the Ruaraka land saga. But how he said it is wrong. And this should be a separate news story.
“I hear some of you are expecting us to resign. We are here to do our work,” Swazuri told off reporters on KTN 9pm news bulletin. “It’s cowards only who resign. We are here. Mimi niko hapa. Hamnitoi, wala hamuwezi kunifanya lolote.”
To whom was Swazuri bragging that they can’t do a thing to him, journalists? And whose work is he doing as chairman of the NLC, his work or the people’s work?
Eyes blazing, chin forcefully punching the air, lips pursed in a straight line, brows pinched with every forceful word and tone like a hacksaw, Swazuri’s body language spelled combat.
All major TV news channels showed it. “GSU housing is there; was paid,” said Swazuri, counting off previous payments on the same Ruaraka land. “Thika highway, took part of it; was paid. Outering road, part of it, was paid. How come people never raised public interest there? Where were you?”
And “public interest” came out like an irritating gadfly that should be swatted away. Swazuri has work to do. What public interest? Who cares about that!
We do not hear reporters react to that direct challenge. What about the finding that the NLC paid out Sh1.5 billion, and that the colossal amount was swiftly transferred in three days and further distributed to 16 private accounts in a record one month?
“Once you’re paid, it’s your money!” Swazuri retorted. “There’s no law that allows us to follow people, whether you’ve put it in 24 accounts or 100 accounts; our job is finished. It’s none of our business!”
That show was disturbing. Every bit of it. Didn’t somebody tell Swazuri that he would be on the evening news?
The fire-breathing NLC chairman was on camera. Surely, he saw the microphones branded KTN, Citizen, NTV, etc. All those mics say, this is national TV. So, anyone speaking into those mics aren’t really speaking to journalists. They speak to the people of Kenya. Therefore, in a manner of speaking, Swazuri was raising the middle finger to the people of Kenya!
Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in their 2001 book, The Elements of Journalism, What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect, say that the primary purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-governing.
Journalism holds accountable public personalities and institutions whose functions impact the lives of citizens. Journalists do this by informing citizens about what’s going on at public institutions, especially in circumstances where people would question dubious actions taken or omitted by officials, large amounts of tax shillings moved in unordinary speed, etcetera.
In order to carry out this task, reporters must interview public officials, ask them to explain problems or concerns. Reporters must fact-check statements made by public officials. And reporters must do the hard work of gathering information from meetings that the public cannot attend, observe what’s going on and report it.
When people take up government jobs, somebody should tell them to expect this level of scrutiny. Citizens demand it. We buy the newspaper in the morning and tune in to the news, not for pure entertainment, but to learn what happened. We want to know if everything is okay. Are our children safe? Did somebody rob us? Is my property safe? Will the road to work be secure tomorrow? Is my government working? We buy the newspaper and tune in to the news because we care to know what’s going on, so we can determine our future.
Now, if I turn on the news and the first thing I see is a public official bragging on national TV that nobody can touch him and anybody questing his actions may go to hell, how should I react to this? How should the Form Four student who is burning schools and whom we all insist should maintain discipline react to this?
We will let Swazuri be for a minute. Let us turn to the performance of reporters.
Why is it that in Kenya we do not see reporters ask tough questions on the record and on camera? On occasions like this, citizens should see and hear both the reporter asking tough questions in public interest and how the subject, like Swazuri, handles the scrutiny. Then, let the public decide.
Otherwise, the scene is a one-sided spectacle: Swazuri breathing like a wounded buffalo on evidently timid reporters. Then, reporters retreating with tails under their legs to write feeble commentaries from behind safe, closed doors for the next day’s newspaper, like the Nation editorial last Thursday.
“In the past few days, Dr Swazuri has come out fighting, alleging a plot by some unnamed people to oust him,” the Nation said. “The NLC chairman must not spare any effort in cleaning up a sector that has been dogged by mega scams for too long.”
Really? Did the Nation take all that bullying lying down? Well, to its credit the Nation added: “But [Swazuri] is also on record as having claimed that some of the accusations against him and the NLC are a creation of the media… Targeting the messenger, however, won’t make the complaints about irregular land dealings just go away.”
Useless. Bure kabisa. This is a timid tone on a situation that demands outrage.
The media should tell public officials loud and clear, politely but firmly, that reporters have a right to probe. Because they ask questions on behalf of the public. And the public should hear and see this.
