Africa Media & Democracy Conference
Theme: Mediating Democracy in Africa
Sub Theme: New Media and Democracy
Title: Digital Media and Democracy: How the Internet is changing the Face of African Politics
Authors names and institutional affiliation
Eddie Cavines Ombagi
4th Year Student
Kabianga University College
(A Constituent College of Moi University)
P.O Box 1 - 20201
KABIANGA
Abstract
In a continent of democracy on hold, where there are still countries without free press and media, and where articles about anything that involves politics gets censorship, every news, whether from mainstream or new media, is more than welcome. The crisis surrounding the disputed 2007 presidential elections in Kenya served as a stark reminder of how fragile and delicate young democracies are. It also put into sharp focus the power new media technologies give citizens to report news and organize responses to crisis situations. A number of Kenyans- bloggers, ‘facebookers’, ‘twitterers’- demonstrated how technically sophisticated and globally connected the country is at precisely the moment when leaders demonstrated a shocking willingness to sacrifice the nation for continued power. At the time when the government shut down mainstream media, citizen journalists assumed a vital role by filling the government-imposed information gap and shedding light on the ensuing chaos. This paper contends that new media and citizen journalists have, no doubt, emerged as a credible and potent source of political activism, clamour for democracy and gents of social change in the cruel face of governments’ inefficiencies in African democracies.
Introduction
“Africa’s future is up to Africans,” President Obama told an audience in Accra Ghana, on July 11. “You have the power to hold your leaders accountable, and to build institutions that serve the people,” Obama said. In Africa as in elsewhere, social networks are providing an opportunity for people to work together to do just that- hold their leaders and representatives accountable to good governance and democracy.
During Obama’s and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s separate trips to sub- Saharan Africa, and at the president’s meeting with African leaders at the United Nations in New York, the message about the importance of good governance, and the conviction that Africa’s future is up to Africans, were central. In August, Clinton made her way across sub-Saharan Africa, meeting with leaders of seven African nations, and telling audiences in Kenya, “The U.S cannot solve Kenya’s problems… We cannot dictate how you run your governments; it is up to us… The answers to Kenya’s challenges lie with Kenyans. Fast forward to May 2010, U.S Vice President Joe Biden, made the same remarks in Kenya.
Internet users from across the continent followed the progress of Clinton’s tour through social networking sites such as facebook, twitter and several blogs. The participants of the cyber dialogue said that most important challenge Africans face is establishing good governance, curbing corruption and promoting greater transparency. They also discussed the economic and social implications of more open governments, free and fair elections and stable regimes.
The sincere and candid conversation taking place through the new forms of technology signal a silent but brewing revolution in as far as governance and democracy is concerned.
This digital technology is changing our politics (Meier, 2008). The World Wide Web is already a powerful influence on the public access to government documents, the tactics and content of political campaigns, the behavior of voters, the efforts of activists to circulate their message, and the ways in which topics enter our public discourse.
In the context of globalization, millions have remained powerless to get information or publish information’s worth giving them a death penalty. According to Beckett (2007), these forms of media reporting- aptly called the underground reporting has made this possible and escape censorships, where the new group of journalists has forcefully emerged in many parts of the world. This new breed of journalists, most of them are not trained neither have they any form of qualifications in relation to journalistic professionalism.
Anyone with a mobile phone can call a radio station and question a government minister, a voter in a polling station can relay the results of the outcome to live television with his mobile phone long before the presiding officer has even signed the certificate. Shapiro (2009) says that one can capture and post pictures of police brutalities or acts of corruption to the internet before the alleged crime is even registered as even crime.
This communication revolution has broken through the earlier world in which official information was offered through government-controlled or regulated forms of media. This has no doubt brought greater transparency and accountability in the governance process.
These forms of new media offer the best possible avenue for participatory democracy and a culture of democratic institutions and good governance. The whole intent of citizens participating in news collection and transmission is, says Rosen (2006) to provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires.
New Media Demystified
Citizen journalism, also called “guerilla” or “street” journalism is, according to Witschge (2009), the concept where members of the public play an active role in collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information. New media tools like the internet have therefore contributed to this mission of news dissemination. These new media technologies include social networking sites like facebook, twitter, hi5, Myspace, bebo etc. They also include blogging sites. The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others.
With today’s technology the citizen journalist movement has found new life, especially in Africa, as the average person can capture news and distribute it globally (Beckett, 2007). The events surrounding the 2007 Kenyan Presidential Elections and the chaos that ensued later can be linked directly or indirectly to the power and influence of new media technologies.
In Egypt as in Kenya, new media technologies have played a bigger role in political mobilization and activism (Rosen, 2006). Several protest rallies have been organized through the new media technologies.
Case study
Kenya’s Election Crisis
In 2007, Kenya was at the threshold of a new dawn. The general election was much touted here and beyond to be revolution of sorts.
Kenyans, as opinion polls showed, were clamoring for change and the elections provided the best way to do just that- change! In the cyber space Kenyans were discussing the implications of the two leading contenders in the race: Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga.
Kenyans in the cyber space demonstrated their ability to discuss pertinent issues that mattered to their lives. Supporters of the incumbent would attempt to sell his policies while those of Raila Odinga would attempt to portray him as the ideal candidate.
Kenyans utilized the social networking sites like “facebook”, “twitter” and the country saw an upsurge of blogs all related to the issue at hand- the General Elections.
While, admittedly, passions were high in the cyber rooms, Kenyans displayed a mature and responsible outlook by discussing the pertinent issues. Will democracy prevail in the coming regime? Would institutional governance be entrenched in the country? These were some of the questions that were trending topics in the cyber environment.
Kenyan bloggers took pains to document the 2007 Elections, but there was little indication from their posts that any anticipated the unusual events that would follow the election. During the elections day, ordinary Kenyans took to the polling stations with renewed sense of hope that democracy is amidst them. In the polling queues, no one was wearing any political party merchandise and the conversation were distinctly non political. What stood out however was that most Kenyans had their mobile phones at arms length. It was evident that they were “facebooking” and blogging on their experience in the voting process.
Later, even after having voted most Kenyans remained in the polling stations to await the results. It was clear that they were not about to miss the dawn of a new beginning. While around the voting halls, you could see the men and women with their phones busy. You could hear conversations like, “Hey, I have voted and I am waiting for the results” or “Imagine I have seen the Member of Parliament, he is losing I know”. In the evening most people would be aware that most incumbents had lost in parliamentary elections long before the results were announced.
Eager Kenyans would call radio and TV stations and inform the nation of the outcome of the elections. The joy in smooth functioning democratic process extended to the 28th of December. The tone and focus of coverage changed sharply on December 30th, as it became clear that the disputed election would be in favor of the incumbent. This was a shock to many as it was in direct contrast to the report of the “election observers”-the citizen journalists (Abdi, 2008).
In the wake of live media ban, some Kenyan bloggers responded by redoubling their efforts as citizen reporters. Reeling from the ensuing violence, bloggers posted bulletins on refugee movements, fuel shortages, and road and airport closures. Some were posted via SMS using Twitter to disseminate messages to a wider audience; others featured photos and were uploaded to Flickr using GPRS modem (Zuckerman, 2008)
As it became clear that Kenya would be in crisis for more than a few days, bloggers began to search for ways to share their workload. Ory Okolloh, a regular blogger suggested a way of documenting the violence with exact locations. Within three days of her January blog post, a prototype version of the system she proposed had been built. By January 9th, it was live at Ushahidi.com. The authors of ushahidi.com were people who were involved in the Kenyan citizen journalism. The lead author David Kobia administers mashada.com, by far the most popular site in Kenya. Others included David Were, Juliana Rotich and Ory Okolloh herself.
Ushahidi is best understood as a form of collaborative citizen journalism. Individuals submitted reports of violent incidents as well as peace making efforts via a web form or SMS, including details of the incident, its geographic location and supporting information, including photos or video. This system greatly assisted in crisis mapping and organizing help to the victims of the violence.
The elections in Kenya saw a proliferation of blogs more so during the crisis. The outcome of the elections incensed so many people that they all raised their voices. The result was an upsurge in the use of new media technologies.
As we are speaking now, Ushahidi.com has won an international award for its role in crisis management. The award’s jury was won over by Ushahidi’s role in crises besides its open-source platform available to websites and users who want to create interactive maps generated by crowd sourcing (The Standard, June 28, 2010).
Up to date, the result of this development can never be quantified. The proliferation of weblogs currently is having an interesting impact on other media. Their interaction with the rapidly expanding mobile telephone networks, for instance, enables bloggers to reach those people still without access to the internet; the coupling of SMS messages with blogs plays an important role in what has come to be seen as a ‘bottom-up’ process of collecting information that can subsequently be used in internet and radio broadcasts (Hattotuwa, 2006).
Egypt’s activism
Egyptians civil protest against their government has been a subject of many discourses in the recent past. Shapiro (2009) says, Young Egyptians have, albeit recently, mobilized and vented their anger on the government on what would, until recently, have seemed an unlikely venue: Facebook, the social networking site. In the country, Facebook is ranked third, after Google and Yahoo. Freedom of speech and the right to assemble are limited in Egypt, which since 1981 has been ruled by Mubarak’s National Democratic Party under a permanent state-of-emergency law. An estimated 18,000 Egyptians are imprisoned under the law, which allows the police to arrest people without charges, allows government to ban political organizations and make it illegal for more than five people to gather without a license from the government. Newspapers are monitored by the Ministry of Information and generally refrain from directly criticizing Mubarak. And so for young people in Egypt, Facebook, which allows users to speak freely to one another and encourages them to form groups, is irresistible as a platform not only for social interaction but also for political activism and dissent.
Although there are countless political Facebook groups in Egypt, many of which flare up and fall into disuse in a matter of days, the one with the most dynamic debates is that of the April 6 Youth Movement, a group of 70,000 mostly young and educated Egyptians, most of whom had never been involved in politics before joining the group. Members coalesce around a few issues- free speech, economic stagnation and government stagnation- and they share their ideas for improving Egypt. But they do more than just chat: they organize street protests for jailed journalists (Shapiro, 2009).
As with any other group on Facebook, members can post comments or share articles, videos or notes on the group’s communal “wall.” The wall of the April 6 group is constantly being updated and talk is often heated and intense.
The fact that tens of thousands of disaffected young Egyptians unhappy with their government meet online to debate and plans is remarkable, given the context of political repression in which it is occurring. Organized groups opposed to the Mubarak’s National Democratic Party have long lived under constant surveillance by the government; their leaders are regularly jailed.
The April 6 movement has its roots in Egypt’s brief burst of political freedom in 2005 and 2006, which came after the Bush administration put pressure on the Mubarak regime to hold its first multiparty election. Although the election were far from free and fair, it created new opportunities for activists to organize and demonstrate, and out of the campaign came a loose coalition called Kefaya (“enough” in Arabic). This flare-up of political activity coincided with the moment Egyptians were starting to gain access to the internet in large numbers. Home computers and internet Cafes were becoming more popular, and the cost of getting online were dropping, thanks to a government initiative intended to encourage technological innovation. The new technologies and political movements grew symbiotically. Shortly before Kefaya started, bloggers started a web site called Egyptian Awareness, and it quickly became the main source of information on Kefaya’s activities.
Early adopters of blog technology worked simultaneously as political advocates and crusading journalists. In 2006, Wael Abbass, one of Egypt’s most influential bloggers, posted a cell phone-video footage of a police officer sodomizing a screaming minibus driver with an iron rod, which ultimately led to the conviction of the officer. Another prominent blogger and a friend to Abass’, Nora Younis, posted stories about sexual harassment of women who participated in the street demonstrations, which helped spur Egypt’s mainstream media to cover the issue. Political blogs became essential readings for the opposition parties (Shapiro 2009).
The Power of Africa’s Citizen Journalism
Africa’s blogger community is still in its infancy, but it has already demonstrated its importance in mobilizing opinion in Kenya and Egypt and promises to be a significant player in the fight for democracy and free expressions across the continent. Zuckerman (2008) says the contribution of political weblogs in shaping public opinion and mobilizing society is much discussed in discourses across Africa.
The African blogosphere is as colourful and diverse as anywhere else. Weblogs can be divided into three distinct types: personal online journals, corporate blogs and citizen journalism blogs. In the latter, the consumer becomes the producer of the content and a correspondent in his or her own right independent of traditional media structures (Meier, 2008). This form of non-professional journalism, and the network of like-minded writers it brings together, is a vital tool of political involvement and participatory, democratic activism.
In Africa, bloggers ply their trade in the name of freedom. Growing interconnectivity is increasingly being used to organize political resistance and protest actions; Facebook has become an important platform for political campaigns.
Following the arrest of Nigerian blogger Jonathan Elendu In 2008 in Abuja, word of his incarceration was spread via the “Nigeria Curiosity” blog. The Facebook group “Free Nigerian Blogger Jonathan Elendu” was used to keep people up to date on the case and to call for support. Elendu was released weeks later, in part due to public pressure created by the online campaigns.
Egypt is another example of the blogger community resisting authority, in this case constraints on press freedom and aggressive attempts to control the internet. Facebook, Twitter and particular blogs are monitored by the state; reports of repression against active bloggers are increasing. Shapiro, (2009) asserts the arrests of US blogger Jeff Buck in 2007 and Egyptian blogger Malek Mustafa in 2008 and the four-day detention of German-Egyptian blogger Philip Rizk in 2009 are all evidences of repressive actions. She concludes, in all three cases, online protest played an important role in the release of the bloggers. The micro-blogging service, twitter, was particularly useful as an information and protest medium. In the case of Philip Rizk, more than 6,500 supporters joined the Facebook group protesting against his arrest.
This campaigns bear witness to the growing importance and effectiveness of the blogger community in promoting democracy and freedom of expression and in creating a space for social debate and political mobilization in Africa (Beckett, 2007).
Kenya’s own Ory Okolloh’s Ushahidi.com, Congo’s Cedric Kalonje’s CongoBlog and Cote d’Ivoire’ Theophile Kouamouo’s IvoireBlog are examples of influential political blogs that aim at providing better access to the public sphere and in building better democratic societies.
Citizen journalism’s popularity, especially in Africa, is attributed to what Okolloh refers as, “lower barrier entries.” The digital arena provides wider entry spaces and offers an opportunity where young Africans can bypass the inefficiencies in the system that allow the oppressive regimes to thrive.
In the recent by-election in Kenya, Ushahidi.com (which is also a downloadable feature) was used to report vote tallies as they are compiled. In South Mugirango Constituency in Nyanza province, vote tallies were relayed from the grassroots to the headquarters of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in Nairobi live. Results from different polling stations were transmitted live simultaneously and this reduced the chances of electoral fraud. It therefore became possible for a person in Cairo or Cape Town to know the winner of the election while the polling agent of the candidate does not know.
Ushahidi.com illustrates how young Africans are using new technologies to enter the political arena. It has, as seen, functioned as a gateway for increased political participation. Using cell phones, ordinary citizens helped counter rumors and what they perceived to be official under-estimations. The idea of citizen journalism is, as Erik Hersman, one of Ushahidi’s founders says, “to democratize information in what was a very closed media.”
By allowing young Africans to contribute to ongoing discussions and events, new technologies provide them with unparalleled access to political debate which no doubt sanitizes the public approach on democracy and good governance (Abdi, 2008).
Leadbeater (2008) says, in the political arena, new media technologies have turned citizens from being ballot casters to collaborators. In Africa, this new media trend is irreversible and nations need to tap on its potential to enhance democracy and empower masses. In this case, more people in Africa have access to mobile phones and networked computers. With the mobile phones, the masses have been empowered to share information during campaigns and even monitor elections, leaving minimal chances for politician to rig elections. An example of this is the African-developed application encouraging political participation is the Nigerian Network of Mobile Election Monitors (NMEM, which was developed by the local NGO Help Foundation and the operators of FrontlineSMS (Hartley, 2010). This technology allows election monitoring with mobile phones and, as with Ushahidi, facilitates networking by providing up-to-date data and local information. During the Nigerian General elections, NNEM received over 10,000 messages from citizens via mobile phones reporting on situations at local polling stations.
Citizen journalists are the newest tool for democracy in developing worlds. It is the newest version of the old idea that there should be a different interaction between news producers and recipients. The principle behind it is that there should not be just freedom to express oneself per se but also freedom to participate (Leadbeater, 2008). Citizen journalism has emerged largely because of the need for mainstream journalism to revise its working practices in the face of recognition that it has become far removed fro people and their everyday lives. In Africa, political discourses that take place in the cyber world have enabled candid debates. The result is that the political space has become public- creating transparency and accountability not witnessed previously (Beckett, 2008). In Kenya, a cabinet minister would be surprised with a call in TV studio and asked about unfulfilled electoral promises. Political leaders nurse the fear that they will be embarrassed if their actions get publicized. The proliferation of radio stations alongside wide availability of mobile phones in many countries in Africa has widened the political space and accountability. It is no longer fashionable for a journalist to sit down and question politicians, because the citizens do it so well!
During the high profile Pan Africa Media Conference in Nairobi, the power of new media was discussed at length. The panelist who included Isis Nyon’go of Google, Daudi Were of MentalAcrobatics alluded to the immense power new media has in shaping good governance and democracy. The President of Kenya acknowledged this fact when he said, “the advent of citizen journalism has become possible because of tools such as SMS, blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Myspace.” In his speech, the president challenged the participants to examine how new media can be used to promote democracy, fight against corruption, nepotism, and environmental challenges.
According to the latest African Economic Outlook report of the industrialized countries’
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the increasing use of information and communication technologies in Africa is helping to sustain parts of the African economy during these times of economic turbulence (Beckett, 2007). The use of such technologies in the political field is taking place amidst revolutionary technological changes across the continent.
As a whole, bloggers see the new media technologies as a chance to create greater openness. Thanks to the simplicity of web 2.0 applications, “users” can become “produsers” much more easily. In countries lacking a pluralistic media or political environment, or for marginalized sectors of the population who are usually under-represented or absent in national and international media, the creation of these new and instant channels of communication is particularly important (Strodden, 2008).
Bad people use the internet too!
It is an oversimplification to view the new media technologies as only good. Bad people also use the cyber space!
One of the most dramatic lessons of the crisis surrounding the 2007 General Elections in Kenya is that the tools can also used for rumor mongering and incitement to violence (Goldstein, 2008). As the crisis unfolded, many cell phone owners received SMS messages that fanned ethnic hatred and fuelled hate speech. Messages included expressions of ethnic hatred, warnings that one community would attack another, and rumors that Kenyan companies were promoting violence.
The Nation Media Group (NMG), a leading media company had to issue a press release to deny the allegation that its vehicles were being used to transport arms to fan the violence in the country.
Ethnic incitement was not limited to SMS messages. Zuckerman (2008) says Bloggers discovered that their comment threads were becoming increasingly hostile and featured many hateful sentiments, sometimes expressed in tribal languages so as not to be understood. Moderation problems became so intense on Mashada.com, Kenya’s leading bulletin site that David Kobia had to take necessary steps. He shut down the site for a cooling-off period, and a few days later had launched a new site, I Have No Tribe.
On the positive note, tracking and identifying individuals who promote hate speech is relatively easy for governments and companies to do. In the aftermath of the violence in Kenya, contact information for over one thousand seven hundred individuals who allegedly promoted violence was forwarded to the government. While then there was no law to prosecute hate speech, now the country passed the law and is effective.
It is evident that bad people can use the internet. However, we should resist the urge to shut down new media technologies, like Google earth as is the case with China, just because they might one day be used by the wrong people.
If Zimbabwe bans the use of the internet, hate mongers will no be able to use it spread hatred and cause stability; nor will anybody else including the Law professor or the Masters student.
The post-election violence in Kenya is a perfect epitome of how during one episode of violence, individuals can simultaneously use the internet for positive change (read: Ushahidi) while others employ it for nefarious ends. The government’s impulse plan of shutting down the phone network was more catastrophic, instead of shutting down the primary means of Kenya’s communication; they decided to allow the cell carrier to remain in service while also sending messages encouraging peace and calm to all subscribers.
Criminals have used the telephone and mobile phones since they were invented. Drug smugglers use airplanes and boats, radios and satellites. Bank robbers have long used cars and motorcycles as getaway vehicles, and horses before then. All inventions have a down side but society survives all of this because the good use of the infrastructure far outweigh the bad uses, even though the good uses are-by and large- small and pedestrian and the bad uses are rare and spectacular. And while bad acts turn society’s very technologies against itself, we only harm ourselves y dismantling that technology in response- just as we would if we banned cars because bank robbers used them too.
New media and processes of activism both online and in the real world are shaping the democracies we live in today and the socio-economic and political processes therein (Price, 2008). Effective moderation, therefore, is a cornerstone of powerful online fora. Moderation sets out clear and transparent rules for participants, for example maximum length of messages; maximum frequency of messages; attitudes of offensive language and defamation. It regulates the discussions, both by implementing agreed rules and adhering to ethical principles, such as data privacy, political neutrality and non-coercion.
By moderating discussion messages, moderators ensure that any participant with a point to make receives a fair hearing and the discussion is conducted in a friendly and fair way. Further, it helps participants reach conclusions (not necessarily shared ones) rather than incessantly rehashing old arguments.
The emphasis of new media is on information produced by the citizens for the benefit of the commons. With appropriate moderation, and with the introduction of vernacular and local languages enabled new media technologies, it will become increasingly easy for a larger population to engage in public discourse that touches on governance and democracy (Beckett, 2007).
Conclusion
Freedom of expression-the struggle, battles and bloodshed-is finally here. The war has been won. Facebook, Myspace, twitter and weblogs have arrived. It is evident that these new technologies avail to the young and restless Africans access to political debate and virtual activism. In the coming years, digital tools will play major role in the struggle between failed states and functioning democracies. Mainstream media would be in good position to drive course of Africa’s future, if it embraces the surge of new media technologies (Flew, 2008).
Lasica (2003) asserts the claims that traditional media is made for authority, objectivity and quality will be challenged. The political case for journalism is best made when it embraces these changes. To retain value, Beckett (2008) says, journalism must engage with the public. It must shift power from the newsroom to the connected online and digital world.
This upsurge of citizen journalism is not obsolete, as claimed by most professional journalists questioning the sources of the stories and credibility of the citizen journalists. Most have claimed most blogs lack in quality and content. What they forget to note is that citizen journalism is not about good editorial content bur about articulating issues, fears and concerns of the majority in a manner and way that the recipients -themselves- would understand.
The mutual cooperation between both worlds will help bridge the gap between professional journalists, the government and the African society.
Finally, new media technologies in Africa will continue to flourish in dizzying speed. The political participation of its users will be wider and more profound. The effects will be felt deeper and swifter. While many have asserted that measuring political impact of new media technologies is a complex matter (Leadbeater, 2008). That project involving information transparency, as in Zimbabwe, has little effect upon government behavior, or those online policy discussions, as in Kenya and Nigeria, are an empty exercise. But the same could be said for most acts of political participation from voting to demonstrating to attending party meetings. This is a misleading and grossly erroneous assertion. It would be a mistake, therefore, to judge the success of cyber space activities in Africa in terms of measurable and unambiguous direct outcomes.
Instead, it makes sense to consider the effects of online discussions across Africa upon policy-makers and governments (Do they listen? Do they respond? Do they learn?); participants (Do they become more informed? Do they feel they are being heard?); and policy itself (Does it reflect public experience more than it would have done? Does it contain new ideas that did not come from politicians?) These are complex multi-dimensional questions which go beyond simple, instrumental accounts.
Regimes have no choice but to join the bandwagon. In Africa, the evidence of these is widely seen. Governments have started using new media technologies and politicians have embraced social networking sites for interaction with the constituents. In Kenya, Prime Minister Raila Odinga is the most visible politician online. On 29th June 2010 he posted a comment on his facebook wall, “I am undergoing head surgery at Nairobi Hospital.” Within ten minutes, 800 comments had been posted to wish him well.
It is just a matter of time before the tide changes on the governments that crack down on new media users who agitate for political transparency and good governance. It is comforting to note that however repressive regimes have been in Africa and however successful they might have been in defeating popular attempts at wider democratic participation through the new media technologies as seen in Kenya and Egypt, the people’s impulse to struggle for freedom and social justice, in the best ways known to them, can never completely die.
Reference
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Acknowledgements
Writing this paper required an enormous amount of help from friends and colleagues. To them goes gratitude. I will take the credit. To my enemies (real or perceived), I say thank you. You always inspire me to strive and prove you wrong.
Wisdom, enlightenment, and inside candor were provided by Mr. Geoffrey Rono, a man who has achieved so much in little time. Mr. Geoffrey Kibet, the man who single handedly formatted this paper. I cannot thank him enough.
To all those who assisted in one way or another, directly or indirectly thank you.
I have made every effort to trace the copyright holders of the reference materials I used, but if I have inadvertently overlooked any, it is not by design. However, I will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first available opportunity.
Contact details
Eddie Cavines Ombagi
P.O Box 41- 40109
SONDU
Tel: +254723900954
Email: ombagimatwere@rocketmail.com
KENYA.
Biographical notes
My name is Eddie Ombagi, a 4th year student of Kabianga University College, a constituent college of Moi University in Kenya. I am in the Department of Arts studying Literature. I am a poet, a critic, a motivational speaker, a volunteer a youth activist, a blogger and an entrepreneur. I wear all my hats with pride and enthusiasm for I know enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great will ever be achieved.
I have received several accolades on my poetry works, some of which were presented in the just concluded national drama festivals. Their appeal, I believe, stem from the contemporary messages they convey.
As a critic, we have a group in campus that religiously read new works by authors and discuss while publishing the same in the school magazine where I am in the editorial team.
Motivational speaking is an activity dear to my heart. I believe that one try to impact humanity in whatever way. My friends and I routinely visit schools and colleges and offer our advice on life and its challenges. Mahatma Gandhi taught me to volunteer when he said, “I shall pass through his world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being let me do it now. Let me not defer it, for I shall not pass this way again.” I am a member of the Kenya Voluntary Development Association (KVDA).
I have attended several conferences, the latest of which was the highly successful Pan Africa Media Conference in Nairobi. I am excited to meet Prof Kwame Karikari, a guest speaker, whom I met in the conference. I am also a participant of the annual Moi University and Indiana University Peace Conference held in Eldoret, Kenya.
As a blogger, I maintain a heavy presence online writing on issues that affect my country and continent. Coupled with my role as a youth activist, the online community provides the best fertile ground to highlight on issues that touch the youth and also connect with them.
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