[DEBATE] : The Americanization of African elections

[Sean Jacobs]

>
> http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp? 
> category_id=25&newsid=113519
>  
> COMMENTARY – DAILY NATION
>
> DIGITAL WORLD: How electronic technology helped to boost election  
> campaigns
>
> Story by ANDREW LIMO
> Publication Date: 2007/12/29
>
> The just-concluded General Election was fought  using cars,  
> helicopters and electronic applications as well. The results  should,  
> therefore, tell us the impact of the use of electronic technology  on  
> the voter. 
>
> Shortly before Christmas Day, I received a call on my mobile phone  
> from a source that did no reveal the number. A deep  but courteous  
> voice greeted me in Swahili: “Jambo?”  to which I naturally answered.  
> He went on: “I am Mwai  Kibaki. ...” After a few minutes, he  
> concluded, “May God bless you”. 
>
> Indeed, it was the President asking for my vote personally and before  
> I realised that it was  a recorded political campaign message, the  
> thought of the Head of State calling me was quite perplexing. Does he  
> know me? Who gave him my number?
>
> Most people received the same message that  was broadcast to numbers  
> which must have been randomly selected by the PNU  campaign team. 
>
> THE ELECTIONS INTRODUCED AN ingenious use  of technology in the  
> campaigns, making it quite different from all others Kenya has had in  
> the past. 
>
> In 2002, mobile phones were not as common gadgets as they are today.  
> There were no creative advertisements on radio  and TV such as was  
> seen and heard this time round. 
>
> Digital technology allows for the compression of graphics-video, audio  
> and text into smaller files which can then be easily manipulated on  
> the computer with amazing results. It means, therefore, that what used  
> to take ages to compose will now be put together  in just a few  
> hours. 
>
> All media houses have invested in new technologies that help to reduce  
> the time between recording and transmission. When it is not “live”  
> coverage, it is always  nearly so. 
>
> Most TV stations use satellite transmission such as those mounted on  
> the outside broadcasting (OB) van or smaller devices like BGAN  
> (Broadband Global Area Network) which makes it possible  for the TV  
> cameraman to record, edit and transmit pictures using broadband  
> internet from remote locations to the studios. 
>
> The clips could be dropped into a digital server that is easily  
> accessed by the transmission crew who air it immediately. 
>
> Through the OB vans, we were able to watch the campaign rallies live.  
> It was exciting and  the viewer was the real winner. 
>
> SMS was widely used as well. The mobile  phone was used to spread  
> propaganda and also, regrettably, hate messages.  The cellphone was  
> also very important to politicians. 
>
> You could see ODM presidential candidate Raila Odinga’s wife sharing  
> new text messages with him as they sat at a public rally. 
>
> ODM Kenya’s Kalonzo Musyoka, on his part, promised to be the most  
> accessible president, saying that he would give his phone number to  
> Kenyans  to call him if he wins. 
>
> It was interesting how the media houses collected and disseminated  
> results. 
>
> There was competition and the expectations  of viewers for election  
> updates were high. Some stations set up databases  for election  
> results for a quick analysis and presentation. 
>
> Again the mobile phone was crucial in the  whole process. 
>
> Media houses provided election results via  SMSs at a premium rate in  
> addition to the  breaking news services they had been offering. 
>
> I wondered if someone would be smart  enough to build a customised  
> database to be accessed on the same short code numbers. 
>
> It would have meant a user querying specific results of a polling  
> station or a constituency. You can imagine  the number of hits  
> Lang’ata constituency, which generated immense interest, would have  
> attracted in such a system. 
>
> ALTHOUGH IT IS COSTLY TO USE, the mobile  phone is creating a big  
> appetite in people for the immediacy of information. Kenyans can  
> hardly settle for anything less than live coverage. 
>
> But it is only quite recently that communication allowed all this  
> here-and-now culture to flourish. Things were different in the 1980s  
> and ‘90s. 
>
> In those days, President Daniel arap Moi would occasionally want to  
> talk to someone on phone. 
>
> Since there were no mobile phones, the Telkom team would quickly  
> construct a line to the home  of that important person who must talk  
> to the President. 
>
> Then they would go to Mr Moi and say: “Mzee,  we have found him”. Most  
> likely the line went “dead” thereafter until next time the President  
> had a word for the person  again. 
>
> I cannot imagine the frustration Kenyans  would have gone through to  
> get results for the hotly contested polls if  there were no  
> technologies like the mobile phone. 
>
> Or maybe the elections would not have been hot if we did not have the  
> mobile phone? 
>