How Kenyan Campaigns Benefitted from Technology Boost

by Lynne d Johnson

Written by Kui Kinyanjui (Business Daily Africa)

Well before the elections, it was apparent that technology was going to be a key medium for the delivery of news and information to the masses.

More than ever before, technology is driving political campaigns in Kenya and around the world.

Even with the current post-election crisis —and with the ban on live broadcasting of political events, the SMS and blogs have become the new channel of communication.

Shortly after the 2005 constitution referendum, the machinery that was created to propel Raila Odinga to the presidential podium was already gearing up for the 2007 elections.

The first platform where the carefully moulded campaign was tested was on the web, where Mr Odinga’s team used an interactive website —www.raila07.com — to publicize his campaign efforts, mostly to citizens and concerned parties outside Kenya.

In the run-up to the elections, other candidates revealed their websites, which often worked in conjunction with other technology dependent services such as SMS and e-mail feedback.

All three frontrunners for the presidential post also took advantage of the global trend that has seen social networking websites such as Facebook, Youtube and MySpace gain huge following to advance their ambitions.

The candidates used the websites to promote their agendas and feature highlights of their campaign trails as well as receive feedback from voters.

“Many people did not know it, but most of the comments we received were acted upon in some way, whether they were negative or positive. It was the real thing,” said one communications agent for a presidential contender.

He declined to be named, but said that the web and SMS offerings were often the most accurate means of gauging the mood of the electorate.

With candidates recognising the Internet as a key avenue for campaign information flow and SMS acting as an instrument that could both raise campaign funds and receive feedback from the electorate, spend on the new genres is said to have risen by as much as 80 per cent in the last year alone.

In the run up to the elections, the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) and several premium SMS providers also launched voter registration services which grew in popularity as the December 27th date approached.

“The ECK website (www.eck.or.ke) and SMS number 0204605872 — where a voter sends a short message containing his or her ID number — is available for scrutiny and verification of voter registration details. ECK calls on any one interested in perusing or purchasing the voters register to feel free to do so,” said Mr Samuel Kivuitu, the ECK Chairman.

ECK’s venture into delivering voter registration via SMS details became the hot commodity that saw the telecommunication giants, Telkom Kenya and Safaricom face off in October.

During the elections, technology took on more prominence as the media also turned to the new channel for dissemination of information, using it to both inform and disinform.

As results were released and in what was a country first, www.nationmedia.com provided live and continuous updates on results as they rolled in from constituencies, complemented by a dedicated page on YouTube, which relayed footage from NTV to audiences, most of whom were spread across the diaspora.

New opportunities for citizen journalism arose as novice reporters around the country captured the unfolding events using their mobile phone cameras and uploaded the footage using the GPRS enabled networks.

Initiated by the Africa Interactive Media Foundation, a new project dubbed Voices of Africa created camjos—the short form of ‘camera’ and ‘journalist’— who chronicled the events during the elections using their mobile phones.

However, the dark side of technology use soon revealed itself.

Well before the electioneering period began, messages sent from anonymous numbers began circulating among subscribers, either supporting or attacking the position of disparate political groups.

That number rose as political tensions rose across the country.

A message sent to a number of Safaricom subscribers promised legal action should inflammatory remarks be sent using mobile network, setting a precedent within the industry which has largely escaped such monitoring efforts during its short existence.

“The Ministry of Internal Security urges you to please desist from sending or forwarding any SMS that may cause public unrest. This could lead to your prosecution,” said the SMS sent to a large number of subscribers.

“Whether you are using your mobile phone in a hotel or whether you are paying off groups, you will be held equally criminally responsible for the acts that are taking place,” said Eric Kiraithe, the police spokesman during a Press conference.

Safaricom said the SMS was sent at the request of the Ministry of Communications and was initially supposed to be sent to all its subscribers, but the process was suspended as network resources at the height of the election crisis were unavailable to handle the mass message.

As the focus shifted towards finding peaceful solutions to the conflict around the country, Safaricom subscribers soon received a message asking them to embrace peace and exercise restraint to restore calm in the nation.

Technology is turning out to be an instrument of preaching peace too. Every time you top up, there is a message of peace.

*Source: allAfrica.com

Category: News