The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media platforms spanning newspaper print operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The Standard Group is recognized as a leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and international interest.

Standard Group Plc HQ Office,
The Standard Group Center,Mombasa Road.
P.O Box 30080-00100,Nairobi, Kenya.
Telephone number: 0203222111, 0719012111
Email: [email protected]

NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Nairobian

Premium

Yes, go slow on 'govertisement' and become pragmatic for once.

Opinion

By Alexander Chagema | Feb 25, 2025

**Archbishop of Nyeri, Anthony Muheria** **delivers his sermon at Consolata Cathedral in Nyeri on December 25, 2024. His message to Kenyans is that, "No hope is deceiving!** [FILE/Standard]

Nyeri Archbishop Anthony Muheria’s recent admonition of the government, urging it to eschew rhetoric and become pragmatic as well as proactive, raised Kisumu Town MP Peter Kaluma's hackles.

Muheria, while decrying the worsening health crisis in the country over Social Health Authority’s (SHA) failure, urged the government to stop turning into a ‘govertisement’ agency and do what is required of it. Kaluma’s beef is that when the government is quiet, it is accused of doing nothing, yet when it outlines its programmes to the people, it is accused of advertisement. What will President William Ruto ever do that we will find acceptable, he ruminates.

There are three operative words in this context; 'advertise', 'outline'' and 'communicate', with clear distinctions between them. Ideally, everything begins as an idea that gets advertised, outlined, and communicated to gain acceptance. Simply put, advertising is the process of drawing attention to a product, service, or event in a public medium to promote sales, while outlining gives the general description or plan showing the essential features of something, but not the details.

Communication is sharing or exchanging candid information, news, or ideas. So, while the government is long on advertisement and opaque on outlining, it is woefully short on communication, and that is the crux of the problem. Communication gives the nitty-gritty, a clear illustration of what is happening or expected, but the government is shirking that responsibility.

In the case of competency-based curriculum (CBC), Kenyans were promised it would build on competencies and enhance skills by moving away from fascination with grades. The SHA advertisement was made in multi-colour, its selling point being lower monthly premiums and a wide range of health benefits that would guarantee every Kenyan remained as fit as a fiddle. On the housing levy, the government advertised that Kenyan workers would be deducted a percentage of their pay to build affordable housing units that they will inherit upon retirement. From the outset, the understanding was that the deductions were individual contributions, but somehow, they became taxes.

Keep Reading business

Public outcry over SHA has been ignored because the government lied through advertisements and hazy outlines that herded the public into a coerced health scheme devoid of public participation. No one is willing to communicate about where the billions of shillings and assets under NHIF went. No one is willing to communicate why SHA is efficient at accepting monthly payments but fails to identify the contributors when they seek outpatient services. No one is communicating why patients must undergo the rigmarole of first visiting decrepit dispensaries for referrals to level two, three, and four hospitals; a useless and tedious exercise designed to frustrate poor Kenyans.

The government advertised CBC four years ago and gave us an outline. To date, it is unable to communicate any tangible achievements, not when there are no clear textbook policies, lack of adequate classrooms, lack of laboratories and libraries, and of course, teachers in Junior Secondary School (JSS) who are critical to the success of the programme. Even the domiciling of JSS presents it with a migraine, yet there are empty classrooms in secondary schools.

The same government advertised capitation and bursaries, giving outlines on how beneficial the two would be in enhancing education and giving everybody a chance at education, regardless of their social stations in life. Arguably, that is not happening.

The government has failed and is unwilling to communicate its failure. Capitation is erratic and was covertly reduced, yet it is not even being remitted. The government is even contemplating moving backwards to reinstate examination fee payment that it relieved parents of some years back. That is a clear mark of incompetence and lack of foresight. The promised roads are mostly utopian.

We cannot, therefore, have some leaders defend a deceitful and populist government that advertises one falsehood after another without batting an eyelid. Our social structure is torn, but the government cannot knit it because it lacks the capacity to do so.