Don’t Dare Gag the Media – Open Letter to the Siaya County Secretary Joseph Ogutu

Siaya County Secretary Mr. Joseph Ogutu yesterday issued a thought provoking internal memo to departmental heads effectively stopping them from engaging media.

Below is an open letter from a concerned resident of Siaya.

“Dear Mr, Ogutu

Having outlined four restrictive measures in the memo you forestall reaction by claiming that these are only stopgap measures pending the formulation of a working County Communication Strategy. This in itself is an admission  that the county has none.

Siaya County Secretary, Joseph Ogutu. Photo | Rotary club

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Well, I’ve done my research and interestingly found out that Siaya is the only county in Kenya that functions without a distinctive Director of Information. It has now emerged through this communique that the county not only lacks a coherent communication policy but also lacks distinctive designated officer to perform this role.

Here we must mention that the last Officer on Acting capacity, Mr. Auscar Wambiya did a tremendous job.

For the casual observer it has not been lost on the public that the Chief Officer Governance, Mr. Waler Okello at some point assumed the role of the Directorate of Communication. The independence of the Directorate has therefore been usurped if not totally undermined to engage strictly on public relations and mundane nitty-gritty on day-to-day functions of the county government rather than to provide vital information to the public.

On this score we agree with you, Mr. Ogutu, that the appropriate department should handle the designated roles. But you should have thought of this a long time ago before gun-happy sycophants undermined Ben Agina to utter frustration.

In Ben Agina we had a glimpse on how diplomacy combines with journalism to create an atmosphere where news flows seamlessly. But Agina was a unique gem Siaya lost for love of petty politics. We may never ascend to those heights again. 

Alright, let’s make do with whatever dregs we have.

Let it go on record here that the county government has not unveiled the Director of Information (although we have confidential information that someone has been interviewed and duly appointed) and yet we have numerous people masquerading as employees under the job description “information officer” presumably reporting to a nonexistent director.

So what was the intention of this memo? Were the striking casual workers wrongfully accorded media coverage leading to the leakage of information that certain cadres of employees have not been integrated in the payment system? Did information seep out indicating that Siaya is still paying workers under voucher system when COB totally proscribed this method?

Let’s be honest, is it the fear that a certain blogger in Siaya is finding acceptance with the people who matter as an authoritative source of information thereby giving unwanted credibility to his talk-show Hard Talk?

If the intention is to gag MedSups, COs and Accounting Officers from engaging the media then Mr. Ogutu come clean and tell us what is wrong with a departmental head outlining the day-to-day progress, performance or achievements of their respective departments.

Are you afraid of an awakening media freedom in Siaya where an accounting officer voluntarily accepts to address the public through interviews and other question-and-answer engagements which are not censored by the alleged Office of the Director of Public Communication?

What is wrong with having a Director of Information whose professional mandate would be to liaise with media instead of this lengthy rigmarole of getting acknowledgement or approval from persons whose preoccupation will be to preserve their employment rather than disseminate objective information?.

Why is Siaya County singularly averse to information being freely accessed by the public?

Mr. Ogutu, what are you hiding?

Did you just wake up yesterday to the reality that information regarding the operations of CGS has to be coordinated and as you awkwardly put it “approved”?.

Part of the memo reads: “As a matter of policy and best practice, it is desirable that information intended for public consumption should be subjected to quality assurance through the Directorate of Public Communication and duly approved by the respective head of department (CECM) who are the designated departmental spokespersons”.?

What is quality assurance in dissemination of information at the level of a county government, Mr. Ogutu?

The memo is suspect.

Appoint a Director of Information and save the public from imagining that the county is always up to mischief even when you mean well.

Remember the true sign of a corrupt administration is the tendency to repress information.

Please don’t even dream of going that route.

We hope this finds you well and have a mischief-free day, Mr. Ogutu.”