Media Maverick

By Kodi Barth

Vernacular radio stations are on the spot on two counts. First, don’t these stations whip up divisive ethnic sentiments, putting Kenyan tribes on a catastrophic collision course?Second, following the Electoral Commission of Kenya’s Friday announcement that all media may broadcast referendum results as votes come in, will these stations be the ultimate ground for propaganda that may adversely sway anticipated votes?Nearly every major tribe now has a vernacular FM station. Some, like the Kikuyu and, shortly, the Luo have two; not to mention State-run regional transmissions.

All are now in the centre of a storm.

The spotlight swung here this week, when the Kalenjin Kass FM was shut down for alleged ethnic incitement. "The station issued a war cry," Government Spokesman Dr Alfred Mutua said on Friday.

An avalanche of protests ensued. Political leaders, all from the Orange camp, said the government was resorting to desperate, undemocratic measures to frustrate communities perceived to be against the Draft constitution.

And lawyers jammed the courts with lawsuits that demanding instant redress and damages.

Planning Minister Anyang’ Nyong’o brought in more clout when he took the battle straight to State House.

He wrote to the President Mwai Kibaki, asking him to restore the confidence of the Kelenjin community as the country heads to the referendum. It was a letter of protest laced with free advice; that the fiat was not in the best interest of a popular government.

And so on Friday, the government relented. As suddenly as it had been cut off, the station was allowed back on air after over 40 hours of static, without much explanation.

But questions lingered. Should we allow vernacular broadcasts at all? In the pursuit of national unity, shouldn’t all these stations just be shut down?

There is great wisdom in the shutdown call. Whenever the country stands at the crossroads, whenever tensions are at fever peak, these stations are a time bomb. Politicians from dominant communities could easily use vernacular stations to ram parochial agenda down everybody’s throat.

It is true that some of these independent stations have in the past gone on air with startling talk. Some Bantu-dialect stations have been heard to refer to other tribes as "the uncircumcised". And some Nilotic-dialect stations have chauvinistically considered themselves as "the initiated".

Such careless adjectives are the beginning of suicidal national division. Gradually, they infuse among dialect speakers a false sense of tribal superiority. It sets up a community as "us against them". In a country that yearns for national aspirations, they set communities apart, championing what divides us, rather than what unites us.

Yet, the shutdown call can also be terribly short-sighted and ill-advised. The fathers of this nation called upon countrymen to celebrate their rich cultural diversity. No national occasion is complete without cultural expressions — tribal dance, ethnic music, traditional salutes. Shut down vernacular stations? Why not just ban tribal languages!

No. That would be to kill a people’s identity. Patriotism and nationalism have never demanded that a people curse their lineage and heritage. It is because we are Agikuyu, Luo, Iteso, Abagusi, etc, that we are Kenyans. A flower garden would not enthral if it all had just roses. We are all flowers in the garden called Kenya; just of different colours and scents. As the tongue-gifted PLO Lumumba once said, if we celebrated the Agikuyu’s relentless entrepreneurship, the Luo’s pride and stubborn pursuit for right, the Kalenjin’s humility and authenticity, and those positive tribal stereotypes, Kenya would be a formidable nation.

The problem is not with vernacular stations. In deed, State-run KBC has run these stations since independence. Nobody cried foul. The problem is with the people with the microphones. Nobody with simplistic, sectarian and parochial mindset should be allowed into the transmission room. Our broadcasters must be of sound education; or at least endorsed by the community as wise men and women.

Finally, the impending live commentary as the votes come in will put our stations on test. Broadcasters stand to spell the difference between cheap propaganda and great journalism.

H H H H
The Banana campaign Web site, www.visionyes.com, was ill advised. The homepage has a picture of Mbita MP Otieno Kajwang working up a crowd with "We are the people!" To the right, reference is made to the origin of that slogan — Adolf Hitler. It is thoroughly insensitive. No sensible person will evoke the memories of history’s most loathed figure, not even in jest. That this appeared on a website associated with government triples the embarrassment.

n The writer is a lecturer at the United States International University, Nairobi.