KOT is characterised by many things.
It’s rambunctious, boisterous and decidedly disorderly. It’s sometimes funny
and whimsical. It’s also on occasion misogynistic and homophobic.
And every so often, we have woke KOT. And while “twitter activism”
has been dismissed in many places (think Peter Kenneth’s
presidential “twitter votes”), its mobilising and rallying power has
definitely changed how online Kenyans think and interact with the state and
authority. Twitter’s ability to democratise information has forged
commonalities in Kenyans where through the hyper-connectedness of Twitter,
common outrage against inflated power bills has led to Kenyans mobilising
around the #SwitchOffKPLC hashtag.
Hashtag activism isn’t new
in Kenya. There have been some successful hashtags e.g. the #MyDressMyChoice
which was able to halt the noxious trend by PSV operators of
assaulting women for “dressing indecently” and also translated to offline prosecutions and convictions. Some of these hashtags were short lived and
ephemeral e.g. #SomeoneTellCNN, the #UhuruChallenge or even the #DeportKoffiOlomide that faded off KOT radar after objectives were met (and perhaps also due to an admittedly short KOT
attention span!). Some e.g. #WhatIsARoad #OverlapKE have morphed into longer
lasting hashtags that are still being used to call attention to two of the
biggest aggravations facing Kenyan commuters- the deplorable state of our
roads, and overlapping menaces who make commuting a daily nightmare.
Kenya Power and power
By all accounts, KPLC is the piggy-bank
of choice for government regimes, officials and connected Kenyans. It’s
a feeding trough that is fed by hard earned Kenyan cash- much of this non
disposable income for Kenyans that are barely making it.
The #SwitchOffKPLC campaign has also
given Kenyans a small peek behind the curtains at the corruption machine that
runs and controls most of industry and politics in Kenya. “KOT police” have
been instrumental in providing information that answer Eric Wainaina’s question
of who is to blame for
the rot in our country. What’s clearly obvious through some of the information
that is coming through is that this corruption machine neither sleeps nor
slumbers. Like a perverse virtue, this looting machine is patient, and unkind.
It always protects the benefactors, and unless something changes, will probably
always persevere. It’s also proven to be very innovative - see e.g. the third
party token vendors who saw an opportunity to make money through alternative paybills and
were able to capture 35% of the token market.
What we should however never lose sight of is that these staggering
fortunes made through bribery of KPLC
officials, creation of fake fuel shortages, and siphoning
of money are crimes that have very real victims behind them. If you trawl the
lead campaigners/ founders of the movement @apollomboya @jerotichSeei and supporters’
twitter timelines, tweets tell stories of predation by an uncaring, indifferent
corporation that has used its position as a monopoly to brutalise and bilk
Kenyans of their hard earned and scarce coins regardless of the human cost.
They have shown zero compunction in over billing widows and grannies, and
businesses on the edge.
Social Movements & Social Media
For Kenyan civil society- especially
those working in transparency/ accountability and energy sector, the campaign
offers an opportunity to make change in the notoriously corrupt energy sector.
And while I don’t think that online campaigning will (or even should) replace
traditional civil society, supporting the #SwitchOffKPLC campaign would bolster
the efforts of the movement and their own work in energy justice. There are
perhaps lessons to be learned from how the #BLM movement has been able to grow
from a twitter hashtag to one that has galvanised (and some say rescued) the
civil rights movement in the US. From all accounts, it was able to morph into a
social movement because of its ability to tap into grassroots organisations,
NGOs and other associational life to leverage its online popularity into
offline work in the judiciary, churches, schools etc. Mr Mboya’s public
interest litigation, online research and activism by Ms Seii and others has
translated to offline gains where consumers have earned a reprieve from inflated bills through the
court system. For civil society activists, the campaign could serve
to connect energy justice, anti corruption and transparency and accountability
work.
It’s proving that it can help counter
sponsored disinformation and provide alternative narratives that amplify
universally recognisable truths- that the kleptocracy that rules Kenya is
literally and metaphorically killing us. It also offers an already beleaguered
civil society a chance to re-moblise its base, and work to chip away at the age
old corruption looting machine we’ve been fighting for a long time.
xxx
