We’re at a time when information is getting shared and distributed at a very fast rate and this can be both good and bad. But when it is the truth and is something that affects us as a country, it is certainly a very good thing. People are now more concerned about issues like healthcare and are now able to share, follow up and ask questions from those concerned. For example, I can now sit at my desk, look up a story in the Daily Nation concerning the Youth Enterprise Fund scandal, and ask the relevant authority about it on Twitter. Like we have seen with the case of Apollo Mboya taking on Kenya Power, other people can join in my quest and put pressure on said leaders so that they don’t ignore questions asked. I can even take a screenshot of the specific sentence or amount of money I want to ask about.
Remember when corrupt leaders would plunder the country and only a few people would realize? Now people are more alert, the dailies like Daily Nation are getting bolder in unearthing and publishing mega corruption stories and what’s even better, a lot of this information is on the internet and the names of those named and shamed will forever be online. Because the internet never forgets. This is both in urban and especially rural areas where people would only hear rumours of what is happening in the ministries. Now with the penetration of mobile phones and expansion of mobile internet services to many areas, the truth of stories like that of NYS1 and NYS2 are in the faces of people countrywide. This is the kind of ability that will eventually hopefully kill corruption in the country. I can now read a list of people involved in all these looting scandals and that is a very big deal. And with headlines like “How 9B walked out of NYS,” for example, I’m bound to read that story and discover the truth.
Of course with advanced technology and lots of people being able to share their thoughts comes the issue of fake news but that is being taken heads on by different organizations. One surest ways of keeping away from fake news is to only go to a newspaper that tells incisive stories with no bias. If I open a Daily Nation page about Anglo Leasing for example, I know that that the site is https://www.nation.co.ke and I will have no fear of reading things that are untrue. I know that the story has been done by qualified journalists who take the time to do their research be it in court corridors or in or in ministry offices.
As much as it may seem like we’re still so far from beating the beast that is corruption, the ability we’re being given by dailies to know the truth will chip the vice slowly by slowly and however long it takes, we’re getting somewhere.
The thieves now know that they’ll no longer remain faceless, but that their faces will be splashed around and will remain etched in our memories forever, so they will slow down. The judiciary will also tow the line because they also do not want to be seen as the ones dragging the country behind in matters corruption. Because if there is a purge of the judiciary, sure enough the paper will write about it.
Another example, at a time when people are more and more conscious about the environment, the Daily Nation has brought to the fore many stories regarding this issue and enlightened us without fail. And the paper does not stop at all the above mentioned. There is also the happenings in the security docket, Anglo Leasing and many more stories.
Thank you Daily Nation for letting us know the truth, and following up for us, so that we’re in the know and we’re able to tell who to hold accountable for theft.
