There can hardly
be a public office in Kenya
today as perplexing as that of the Government Spokesperson.
Interestingly, when
the office was established in June 2004, many read in the move the government's
resolve to improve fluency in its discourse with its public. With a milieu of
politicians and senior government officials contradicting each other in
farcical manner, creation of the office could never have been more welcome. It
looked good to introduce concord in a camp that was taking the character of a
madhouse. Indeed, coming at the half-way mark of President Kibaki's five-year
term, it held the potential of tidying up the corporate image of his
administration on the election-ward stretch. And not only was the office the
first of its kind in the country, it also had as its first occupant an
accomplished professional who seemed just the fitting choice for a trail
blazer. Dr Alfred Mutua possessed, by the time of his appointment, 14 years'
experience in both print and broadcast journalism, and was a filmmaker of fair
international renown.
There were of
course the cynics, who saw the office as a propaganda tool and hardly a fitting
recipe for better governance. Critical questions were asked about its practicality
and the job description of the office holder. Exactly on whose behalf did the
spokesperson speak: the government, the cabinet or the president? To whom was
the office answerable, and how would it, for instance, relate to the
Presidential Press Service? Was it the offices responsibility to locate
information on certain issues or to wait and be briefed?
 |
man at work
|
The spokesman's
bungling performance in his first key task gave the critics an early score and
extinguished much of the anticipation that many Kenyans had had in him. In his attempts
to manage the Anglo-Leasing outrage, he and the then minister for finance David
Mwiraria openly contradicted each other. Yet, many may still have hoped that
this experience would serve as an eye-opener for the government's new piper,
and may have expected him, being the consummate practitioner that he was, to
shore up his sloppy act and achieve a first-rate performance for the team. But
as it has turned out, this was just the ominous start to a three-year spiral
that has left Mr Mutua's office in a precarious position. Today, Alfred Mutua
is attracting a lot of heat, and it is the kind of heat he would well have
avoided. Then again, maybe this is just what he was after.
If the
government spokesman's (apparent) woes stemmed purely from how or what
information is disseminated to the public by his office, then his critics would
not have as much leverage against him as they now do. But Mutua has most
fiercely been criticized not for his choice of information to propagate or the
manner in which he does it, but for venturing beyond that very role, intended
to promote clarity in government communications thus bolstering accountability.
He has been faulted for reinventing himself into the government ‘scopesperson,'
ostensibly being on hand to deal with anything and everything in the wide scope
of government affairs.
The Office of
Public Communications, which is the umbrella office of the government
spokesperson (Mr Mutua doubles as Director of Public Communications), outlines
on its website its
functions as follows:
-
Carrying out research on factors underlying
negative opinion on the Government and providing appropriate strategies to address
such negative opinion;
-
Propagating Government policies, programmes and
disseminating accurate information;
-
Advising the government on best practices in
dealing with the media;
-
Anticipate public concerns and responding to
them appropriately;
-
Liaising with the media on matters touching on
the Government, media and the general public;
-
Liaising with ministries/departments on matters
relating to dissemination of relevant information pertaining to their
operations; and
-
Editing and producing journals and other
publications aimed at improving Government image.
Alfred Mutua did
devise ways that would indeed appear to facilitate the performance of these
functions by his office. He initiated weekly media briefings (held at his KICC
office every Thursday at 3pm), as well as frequent (televised) meetings (a la
press conferences) in town halls around the country to ‘discuss' public
concerns. His office has also been involved in the release of literature
enumerating the achievements of the government, and launched a vigorous
patriotism campaign dubbed "Najivunia
Kuwa Mkenya" or "I'm Proud to be Kenyan." And while contestations abound to
the sincerity, timing and even relevance of some of these activities, they
would seem somewhat within acceptable limits of the job description of a
government spokesperson.
The government
spokesman however is transmogrified into a perplexing animal when he engages in
the kind of activity that has seen Energy Minister Simeon Nyachae breathing
fire down his neck. It certainly is not easy to see how Mr Mutua intended to be
furthering the cause of his office by ordering on camera the arrest of Ministry
of Roads' engineers and contractors. If his actions helped the public
understand why the recently carpeted roads were already wearing away and what
was being done about it, then that explanation was lost in the more discernible
usurpation of powers clearly not vested on him. What, with the various titles
he is now donning on many a cartoon strip and web log, like Commissioner Mutua,
and Works Inspector Mutua. A member of parliament, expressing outrage at Mr
Mutua's actions, even posited the possibility that the civil system has
collapsed to the extent that a senior officer is allowed to interfere with the
operations of other government organs. That is without doubt the kind of
sentiment that the government spokesperson, charged with casting the government
in positive light, ought never to evoke from the public he serves.
So the same public that anticipated increased
openness and responsiveness from the government with the creation of the office
of government spokesperson three years ago now watches the antics of Mr Mutua
with a sense of growing unease. Has
the office of the government spokesperson improved the government's public image?
If the skeptics are deemed to be carrying the day and Mr Mutua needs some
advice, ace blogger P Gathara,
at has it for him (borrowed from e-lauGhs):
|
"This
is an actual report that was turned in by a brick mason after an injury. This
is what he said to his employer:
‘When
I got to the building, I found that the hurricane had knocked off some bricks
from the top. So, I rigged up a beam with a pulley at the top of the building,
and I hoisted up a couple of barrels full of bricks. When I had fixed the
damaged area, there were a lot of bricks left over. Then I went to the bottom
and began releasing the line. Unfortunately, the barrel of bricks was heavier
than I was and before I knew what was happening the barrel started coming down,
jerking me up and I decided to hang on since I was too far off the ground by
then to jump. Half-way up, I met the barrel of bricks coming down - FAST.
I
received a hard blow on my shoulder. I then continued to the top, banging my
head against the beam and getting my finger pinched and jammed in the pulley.
When the barrel hit the ground - HARD - it burst its bottom, allowing
the bricks to spill out. I was now heavier than the barrel. So I started down
again at a high speed! Half-way down, I met the empty barrel coming up - FAST.
I
received severe injuries to my shins. When I hit the ground, I landed on the
pile of spilled bricks, getting several painful cuts and deep bruises. At this
point I must have lost my presence of mind because, I let go of the line. The
barrel came down - FAST - giving me another blow on my head, putting me
in the hospital. I respectfully request sick leave.'
|
(And so should you Mr. Government Spokesman)"
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
So Mutua turns his considerable talents into organising mini-Nuremburg rallies ( Najivunia etc) and trying to stitch his heart onto his sleeve.
Hmmm, what was that about a working nation?