Reading the six dailies a few weeks ago, after the previous Monday’s demonstrations, was a story in storytelling. Business Daily chose business and completely avoided the maandamano. It offered the reader a menu of new regulations that will affect gamblers and how KQ has made losses for a decade.
The Standard reported the ‘Kenyattas under siege’ and ‘Raila mass action leaves city in paralysis.’ People Daily reported that ‘Goons raid Uhuru land amid demos’, with The Star headline reading, ‘Uhuru farm, Spectre raided in demo twist.’ Daily Nation wrote, ‘Stop this madness’ and Taifa ‘Wahuni wavamia shamba la Kenyatta.’
What is in a name? Everything, right? Is naming important? Yes. Four of these newspapers decided to name Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga on their front pages. They placed these individuals at the centre of the demonstrations that were held on Monday, March 27, 2023. A farm belonging to the Kenyatta family was raided by unknown persons who stole livestock, cut down trees and burnt down part of the property. As for Raila, the family business, East Africa Spectre Limited, was partially attacked.
The Standard reported that the attackers at Kenyatta family farm were “ferried from an unknown place”. People Daily reported “gang on motorcycles … attacks Raila gas cylinder firm, breaking windows….” All these seeming acts of lawlessness happened in the absence of police officers, who were engaged in “running battles” with protestors. Apparently, the police were too busy dealing with demonstrators in other parts of the city to be found where criminals were destroying private property.
The two names sell newspapers. Raila’s name has a significant optical effect. It arouses emotions in those who hate or like him “in equal measure”, to use a Kenyan journalistic cliché. Uhuru’s name rings loudly in many ears. Uhuru is not just the recently retired President of the Republic, he is also the chairman of Azimio-One Kenya coalition whose public face is Raila. So, if the names and naming of the two were meant to get their supporters to buy the newspapers, the trick probably worked.
But what was lost in the names and naming of the two politicians? Well, the threats by some government officials that they would attack Uhuru’s property – and by implication the properties of those associating with him and Azimio – were lost in the highlighting of the two names alongside the demonstrations and destruction of property. What is lost in the names and naming is the mortal danger inherent in the reported statements by the politicians, which may have translated into the violence, theft and damage to private property.
Why did the media report the lawlessness that enabled crooks to not only steal but also destroy private property in broad daylight as if it was not a serious sin of omission by the state? Where were the police? Where were state agents whose responsibility is to protect property, whether it is public or private? Don’t private taxpayers have the right to expect their property to be protected by the state? If individuals – irrespective of where they are from – can invade private property seemingly without fear of being arrested, shouldn’t the media be shouting about the breakdown of law and order rather than focusing on names and naming of politicians?
Isn’t the media the public watchman? Shouldn’t the media report and caution, as circumstances may demand? There is no doubt that property belonging to the Kenyatta and Odinga families were attacked and vandalised. But just naming these individuals simply makes the case of their damaged property political. Yet here is a typical example of the law and its enforcers abandoning people that they should protect when they most need security. That performance of mayhem publicly should scare every Kenyan who cares about law and order.
The media should extensively report on the type of anarchy seen when the properties owned by the Kenyattas and Odingas are raided. It should condemn it. It should educate Kenyans on why the country would be hurtling down a dangerous hill were such havoc to be repeated in other parts. The names and naming of the two affected families may have drawn the attention of respective audiences but the emphasis placed on the names of the two individuals diminished the theme of the stories: law and order as a key pillar of modern societies.
