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KENYA: Senior Women Editors Campaign For Peace
By Kwamboka Oyaro
NAIROBI, Jan 18, 2008 (IPS) - The story of a 12-year-old girl stabbed by her 14-year-old neighbour just
because their parents supported different presidential candidates in the Dec. 27
elections will hardly make headlines here. Neither will the story of a woman in
President Mwai Kibaki’s backyard sheltering about 100 workers who have fled
the post-election violence.
Reporters and editors are concentrating on covering politicians - giving
them the tools to polarise the country even more. The post-election tribal
violence the country witnessed soon after Kibaki was declared winner of the
presidential elections has reportedly claimed more than 1,000 lives and
displaced 250,000 people.
"We twist news for politicians… and smile at chaos as it makes us sell
newspapers and attract more viewers and listeners to our broadcast media,"
said Mildred Ngesa, special projects writer with the Daily Nation, Kenya’s
largest daily newspaper.
"This is not helping heal the nation," Ngesa stressed, "Now is the time to
change this and look for the real newsmakers who have been forgotten over
the years."
Ngesa is among the women journalists from media organisations all over this
east African country who have teamed up to seek a lasting peace through the
Heal the Nation Campaign.
Ngesa said the deceptive calm in the country should not give the impression
that the country is at peace. True peace can only exist if "we talk about truth,
justice, history… only then can we start healing the nation."
The Heal the Nation Campaign will begin this dialogue through the use of
their weapon: the pen.
"Biblical David felled a giant with a catapult, and Moses had only a shepherd’s
staff to deliver Israelites from slavery," said Rosemary Okello-Orlale, director
African Woman and Child Feature Service and coordinator of the campaign.
"We, the media women, have a pen. Through this pen we will bring peace to
this country," she said.
The women stressed that unless the origin of the conflict was addressed, the
calm in the country during the past week would be just "artificial peace
waiting to be triggered off by a small spark." "We must confront the real
issues," explained Jane Thuo, of the Association of Media Women in Kenya.
The post-election violence has seen newsrooms polarised and reporters
using inflammatory language, which may be making the situation worse.
Jane Godia, senior editor with the Standard - the second largest media
organisation in Kenya - cautioned reporters to avoid terms such as
"genocide" and "tribal war" which do not help in the healing the nation.
Bitange Ndemo, permanent secretary of the ministry of information and
communication, said the initiative was timely, as some media outlets may
have encouraged the violence of the past two weeks.
"Some talk-back vernacular radio stations encouraged people to talk
violence," Ndemo said. "They aired raw material. One case we have is where a
caller asks: ‘When do we start killing the foreigners in our midst?’ Such
sentiments could explain the wanton destruction of lives and properties as
soon as the presidential results were announced," she said.
The police put the total number of deaths at 612, Monday. But those who
have fled the most affected areas in western Kenya say many uncollected
bodies are still rotting in farms.
Ndemo said that the women’s initiative if supported would help give
prominence to stories of the real victims of violence who are usually ignored
by the media.
"Women were sexually and physically assaulted during the last few weeks of
violence," Ndemo stressed. "After destroying property, some men went home
demanding food but when told there was none, they turned their anger on
their wives, sisters or mothers and beat them up. Such stories did not find
space in the media."
(END)
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