Land is always an emotive issue in Kenya. And nowhere is this more pronounced than at the Coast. Whether you go to Mombasa, Lamu or Kilifi you will meet squatters. The only difference is, often, they’re previous landowners duped by investors or politicians.
We’re in the season of political promises and Kenyan politicians have mastered the art of promising heaven and delivering nothing. Unfortunately, journalists have aided this habit by trumpeting the promises candidates make in their newspapers and broadcasts without any attempt to hold the politician accountable for previous promises that never came to fruition – especially where such a politician has had the opportunity to be elected to the position they’re vying for.
A few weeks ago, Deputy President William Ruto while campaigning in Kwale promised to buy land from absentee landlords to settle squatters. His main competitor, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, while campaigning in Busia, ridiculed the DP’s offer to fix land issues claiming he (Raila) was the best bet to deal with land injustices.
All this is beamed live to millions of Kenyans watching TV at home who believe these promises. Worse still are the victims who watch this like a familiar soap opera that they already know the ending because it’s a song they have heard every electioneering period.
It’s the duty of the journalists covering these events to put a question to the candidates, perhaps not right away but as a follow up through their press staff and ask them about previous statements and promises regarding the land issues they’re now promising to solve; otherwise broadcasting, or writing about these promises is tantamount to spreading misinformation.
This is important because coverage of election campaigns isn’t just about giving updates and stories about politicians and the regions they visited. It’s an opportunity to help the public know – really know – who is seeking their votes, their record, and an opportunity for the candidates to explain themselves to their voters in the hope that the coverages would lead to an informed decision by Kenyans on August 9.
When politicians, therefore, make promises to squatters or communities who have suffered from poor and discriminatory land adjudication, journalists covering that should commit to following up and telling the whole story.
In Kilifi, for instance, many residents lost their land to salt firms, which has been the subject of many local and national debates: from a parliamentary inquiry to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights audit report. Yet leaders will come and make promises, and journalists repeat these promises. Anybody interacting with such a story for the first time would be forgiven for thinking it’s a new issue, yet it’s a recurring problem spanning decades.
To date, the communities continue living in grinding poverty while the salt firms continue expanding into the locals’ land and, in some cases, on the main roads. Attempts to solve these problems have resulted in blame games among government agencies.
This would be an excellent time to get the politicians in that region and at the national level to explain how they would deal with land issues involving huge investors in a way that encourages investment without subjecting locals to abject poverty. A beginning point would be why the recommendations by KNCHR that the National Land Commission and National Environment Management Authority addressing issues of land possession and pollution of water catchment areas have not been followed through. But often, reporters covering such events don’t have the institutional memory to ask these questions or make the connections.
To be able to tell the whole story, media houses should be wary of sending their famous journalists from Nairobi to cover local elections in other remote regions because there will be a disconnect. Their focus is often national and would not be attentive to the local concerns that would be important to bring to light on such rare occasions.
Trust your local journalists with that mandate, and they will be able to connect the promises politicians make nonchalantly with the challenges they have been covering to ask challenging and necessary questions.
