Esther Passaris has tried using calamities but she cannot hold a candle to Mr Baba Man
By Jodi Ochieng’
Political economist
Raila Odinga just loves tragedies, I tell you. Take the Likoni ferry disaster in which a mother and daughter drowned in their car pass in 2019. Raila did not let that disaster pass him by. See, the whole country was following the rescue mission which was becoming a cropper due to bad weather.
Mr Baba Man saw an opportunity to play saviour. After all, the October 20 Mashujaa Day celebrations were two weeks awa in Mombasa County, home of Likoni channel and venue of the tragedy. So, there he was, appearing with cameras in tow, issuing directives that the dredging to widen the Likoni channel be stopped for the rescue mission to be completed.
Raila loves publicity, by whatever means necessary, and he got his slot in the 9 O’clock bulletins during the rescue operation for Miriam Kaghenda and her daughter Amanda Mutheu from the Indian Ocean. And that is on top of the hour radio news breaks, the newspaper front pages.
Some quarters might argue there was nothing wrong with that, but omera, the list of tragedies he has taken advantage of are just too long. Few politicians have employed tragedies like accidents, bomb blasts and burials for that prime slot at the 9 O’clock news than Raila Odinga.
Grenade in Raila office turned out to be a harmless shell strewn among broken plastic and steel pipes
Raila also loves demonstrations in which tear gas canisters will be liberally used, violent protests and stage managed incidents. Like making a meal out of a grenade, apparently, found in the basement of his Harambee Avenue office when he was Prime Minister during the ‘Nusu-Mkate’ government in September 2011. Turned out it was a harmless shell strewn among broken plastic and steel pipes, planks of timber and pieces of wood and surveying the scene, then Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said the grenade “was placed here not long before the matter was reported. May be a few hours, a day before but not more than a week” by which time Mr Baba Man had milked the incident dry!
But not far from Raila’s footsteps is Nairobi Woman Rep Esther Passaris. She too capitalizes on calamities for which he has been lumped among ‘Disaster Celebrities’ for gobbling photo opportunities during tragedies.
Sample some: When classrooms at Precious Talent School collapsed in Dagoretti constituency the other day killing seven children, Passaris was there, not far from media cameras. During the January 2019 Dusit Hotel terror attack, she was there. No bullet proof vest or any training in military terror flushing operations, no gun in hand in case a surviving terrorist pulled a surprise. When Jackline Mwende’s hands were chopped by her husband in Machakos County three years ago, she was there… ‘to console’ her.
There is thus no better venue for free publicity for a politician than a scene of tragedy
Tragedies make the news in what is called ‘negativity bias.’ Ohio State University psychologist John T. Cacioppo explained in 2017 that human beings have a high affinity for negative news due to the brain’s ‘negativity bias’ which is basically means that our brains are simply built with a greater sensitivity to unpleasant news. Politicians and their media handlers know tragedies attract press coverage and media houses rush to cover the sad incidents because “unfortunate events make for simpler stories.”
Viewers are sure to be transfixed because of ‘negativity bias’ and “its power in influencing our collective hunger to hear and remember bad news,” noted Cacioppo.
There is thus no better venue for free publicity for a politician than a scene of tragedy where they invariably “condemn the incident in the strongest terms possible.”
Politicians and their media handlers know tragedies attract press coverage
During the Dusit terror attack, Esther Passaris was even giving updates on hospital admissions of the victims!
Esther, the student, was just learning from Raila the teacher: When over 120 slum dwellers burnt to death after a pipeline burst into flames during the Sinai Fire Tragedy in September 2011, Raila was at the slums while houses were still in embers, smoking!
Publicity is tied with tragedy and Raila just happen to drop by in Eastleigh shortly after a bomb explosion in November 2012. Rhough unlike other test tube politicians Raila is a news item unto himself, he still has no qualms employing other means to be in our living rooms as part of news.
Like taking advantage of conflict and high octane drama-which are important in news value. One was the Swearing himself as the ‘People’s President’ and dicing with treason in January 2018 besides appearing in scenes of political violence where likelihood of being photographed being tear gassed are high. Remember Tear Gas Mondays before the 2017 general elections?
Remember Tear Gas Mondays before the 2017 general elections?
Raila also uses ‘media logic’ which in the psychology of communication is doing something which will attract media attention . It could be through use of conflict (Raila telling the world he will never participate in the repeat elections slotted for October 26, 2017), personalization (running soccer commentaries starring fellow politicians or appearing in football matches) and entertainment orientation (dishing out vitendawili in political rallies).
Then there are his well-calculated appearances in high profile burials.
In the case of former Vice President Kijana Wamalwa’s burial in 2003, Raila made the tero buru entry in traditional regalia, spearing ghosts. Effectively, he shifted attention to himself. During the burial of politician and women’s rights activist, Wambui Otieno in 2011, Raila appeared when the pastor was half way through a funeral sermon. Raila then made a grand entry, saluting, bowing, mumbling at the casket.
These Raila burial rituals sometimes draw away television cameras for the drama that makes for better viewing on 9 O’clock news ensuring he is part of the daily news cycle.
Raila Odinga is still a learner compared to Naija’s politician. The problem, I think, lies with the citizen who has the power to protest and effect changes.