While the media sends out the chunk of messages from the political class, they are simply a transmitter and one that can sometimes distort or sensationalise messaging. Therefore, pushing messages through media must be strategic and laser-focused.
While the current government has had policy challenges, it is also clear that communication has been poor development-wise.
The Kenya Kwanza regime has largely kept the opposition on the back foot in terms of political communication, with their vocal politicians, opinion leaders and bloggers all overwhelming the opposition’s whenever push has come to shove.
We had predicted the government’s popularity would take a hit owing to the Finance Act, and the recent Infotrak opinion poll suggests 73 per cent of those interviewed say the government was headed in the wrong direction. It's still early days, which should be concerning for the administration.
Kenya Kwanza politicians have remained close-knit, while a significant number of Azimio’s have been like free agents in soccer who are ready to move away, given a better offer. Many Kenya Kwanza politicians are adept at setting the agenda and keeping the opposition ones at the back of the line. While some will be almost arrogant in their rebuttals, others speak strongly despite the challenges their government is having to ensure they keep Azimio in check. To the public, there has not been much to show that Kenya Kwanza has well and truly taken over complete management of the country’s economy.
It is believed a shake-up is on the cards, especially after President William Ruto's public rant that some of his top officers, such as Principal Secretaries, seem to have no clue what their job entails. It is clear the President, who is a results-oriented leader, feels utterly detached from the people, considering the damning polls and, of course, the quelled demonstrations a few weeks ago, showing strong dissatisfaction with his government, albeit protestswere organised by the opposition.
Some have argued that it might as well have been a public relations stunt to have the President appear as hands-on and unwilling to take any nonsense from the people he’s tasked with critical responsibilities and deliverables. Nevertheless, it appears that some have not yet acclimatised to the ‘Ruto way’ or have been lax. This could be either because of the role they played to engineer his election win or maybe the President had given them too much of a free hand so they began to sleep on the job. We are far from certain about what the actual situation is, but the government has been on the ropes because of the harsh economic times.
All eyes are cast on the President as the people hope to see radical policy changes that lower the cost of living and indicate a government making the most of the its limited resources, with austerity measures and subduing corruption. There have been displays of intent to fight corruption, mainly the intervention at Kenya Medical Supplies Agency and the Treasury Pay Bill number, but Kenyans hope to see more done.
The critical unspoken thing is the inflated costs of mega projects in various sectors that past governments have implemented. The mystery of these operations riles Kenyans. Part of subliminal messaging in Ruto’s campaigns last year was that he would demystify the operations and demonstrate transparency. An earnest evaluation of how Ruto fares should be based particularly on this aspect, besides a buffered cost of living. The masses never get a snippet of how the mega deals happen, and this is where Ruto can score.
Mandarins and the powers that be have always profited excessively from government's clandestine deals that are either inflated, unnecessarily created, or poorly identified and executed. Massive public funds have been perennially torched this way. Kenyans want to see something different. Everyone knows that these huge ever-evolving deals benefit a few people, and while that is the essence of power, even as they do business, the projects must be run efficiently from planning to execution, and done modestly. Kenyans will be hoping it is not still another game, the same victim being the public terrorised by an insensitive regime.
Recent talks indicate a pulling together of the ruling regime and opposition, and the latter will push to come out of the talks with something — has always been the aim. The touted implementation of the Community Development Funds kitty for all legislators will be a popular one, and so will the Official Opposition office with a tantalising budget for the Azimio fraternity, which makes this process a dictatorship of the majority, with the public locked out.
The debate around the cost of living is gradually but surely starting to die out. Some say the possibility of a deal between Ruto and Raila has already been cut behind the scenes, which is highly likely if not definite. That may not be farfetched, as history shows. In 2008, Raila sharply differed with his men, such as William Ruto who represented him in the talks as he unscrupulously accepted the proposed deal after Kofi Annan sat separately with him and Mwai Kibaki. The deal with Uhuru was also crafted before the famed swearing-in at Uhuru Park where Kalonzo Musyoka, Musalia Mudavadi, Moses Wetang’ula and others were duped to stay away.
Cometh the moment, cometh the man. In these crucial deliberations, Raila displays such gravity and pull that leave those who don’t matter think they do matter, grasping at straws. Part of the reason he never allows anyone else in the main opposition to be the presidential candidate is to keep his party dominant so he will not lose his grip on the goings-on that follow the elections. Unveiled as Raila’s point man for the talks, Kalonzo Musyoka might feel like the man of the moment, yet when all is said and done, Raila will get the most of the morsel that the opposition gets from the process. The process will either rubberstamp hitherto agreed positions or will be firmly tethered by Ruto and Raila.
As the masses hurtle towards 2027, blinded by political agenda setting and media framing, Kalonzo Musyoka might well find himself enveloped in a process he cannot get a grasp of. Although Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua ripped into him as he held a meeting with Kitui professionals last Wednesday, it will not be a surprise to realise Raila is again bluffing that he’d support him. The best option for Kalonzo is to learn from Ruto and create his own machine so that he will at least be the one truly calling the shots in deliberations after Ruto is again declared the winner after the next elections.
