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ABSTRACT
The growth and penetration of the internet in Africa, coupled with the popularity and ubiquity of the mobile phone, have positioned social media platforms as new spaces through which Kenyans organize and imagine political discourse and action. This article highlights the varied roles played by a WhatsApp group in Kenya’s Nakuru County in convening citizens for political discussion and collective action around County government affairs. In the context of political and economic devolution in Nakuru County, this article shows how Nakuru Analysts (NA), a Nakuru based WhatsApp group, uses the platform to convene citizens and elected county authorities in one digital space. Although not exceptionally unique as a political WhatsApp group in Kenya, this article argues that what marks out NA for scrutiny as a digital public is not merely how it is constituted, or how voice is deployed to shape local political agendas, but largely on how it mobilizes around grassroots politics – where online discourse shifts to offline collective action. In the process, this analysis reveals the complex ways through which digital publics develop and nourish unique forms of ‘political personhood’ in the Counties.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Etzo and Collender, “The Mobile Phone ‘Revolution’,” 659; Gagliardone, “Can You Hear Me?” 4–7; De Bruijn, Nyamnjoh, and Brinkman, Mobile Interconnections, 11; Omanga, “Chieftaincy,” 1.
2 Srinivasan, Diepeveen, and Karekwaivanane, “Rethinking Publics in Africa in a Digital Age,” this volume.
3 Mudhai and Nyabuga, “‘Misclick’ on Democracy”; Mukhongo, “Negotiating the New Media Platforms,” 329; Makinen and Kuira, “Social Media and Post-election Crisis,” par. 4.
4 Diepeveen, “Re-imagining Publics”; Rasmussen and Omanga, “Les parlements du peuple au Kenya.”
5 Osborn, “Fuelling the Flames.”
6 Srinivasan and Lopes, “Africa’s Voices Versus Big Data?” 156. Odhiambo, “From Diffusion to Dialogic Space”; Simatei, “Heshimu Ukuta.”
7 Gagliardone, “Can You Hear Me?” 4–7.
8 Srinivasan and Diepeveen, “The Power of the ‘Audience-public’.”
9 Ndemo, “Political Entrepreneurialism,” 2.
10 See http://ca.go.ke/images/downloads/STATISTICS/Sector%20Statistics%20Report%20Q2%20%202017-18.pdf.
11 See Srinivasan, Diepeveen, and Karekwaivanane, “Rethinking Publics in Africa in a Digital Age”; Mukhongo, “Negotiating the New Media Platforms,” 329.
12 Ndemo, “Political Entrepreneurialism,” 3.
13 Postill, “Public Anthropology,” 1.
15 Interview with County Assembly PRO office, June 2016, Nakuru.
16 Most of the senior officials would later ‘demote’ their participation through proxy.
17 Interview with Kinyanjui, June 2016, Nakuru.
18 Brisset-Foucault, “Serial Callers.”
19 A baraza is a public meeting, historically convened by the local chief, but as a term it is generally used to describe public gatherings where state officials and citizens meet to ‘to deliberate’ on specific issues.
20 To join the two groups, a ‘space’ was created for me where participants who were described as passive or troublesome, were removed.
21 Monterde and Postill, “Mobile Ensembles,” 5.
22 According to County officials, digital forums did not constitute legally recognized ‘public participation fora.
23 Gagliardone et al., “In Search of Local Knowledge”; Lopes and Srinivasan, “Africa’s Voices”; Mudhai, Tetty, and Banda, African Media and the Digital Public Sphere.
24 Meraz and Papacharissi, “Networked Gatekeeping”; Tully and Ekdale, Sites of Playful Engagement.
25 Holud, quoted in Webster, Theories of the Information, 101–2.
26 Postill, “Digital Politics,” 2; Chadwick, “Internet Politics.”
27 Srinivasan and Lopes, “Africa’s Voices Versus Big Data?” 156.
28 Barber, The Anthropology of Texts; Englund, Human Rights and African Airwaves.
29 Warner, Publics and Counter Publics, 413.
31 Interview with Jenni, and Kinyanjui, June 2016, Nakuru.
32 Interview with Siasa Kamili administrators, July 2016, Nakuru.
33 Interview with Kinyanjui, 5 August 2016.
34 Phone Interviews with Jenni, June 2016.
35 Interview with NA administrators, February 2017.
36 Interview with Kio Kinuthia and Elijah Kinyanjui, 2 November 2016, Nakuru.
39 Finding from focus group discussion with NA members, September, 2017 (Milele Resort)
40 Cornell and D’Arcy, “Plus ça change? County-level Politics in Kenya After Devolution.”
41 Nakuru Analysts, 15:30–15:54, 29 August 2016.
42 Nakuru Analysts, 23:28–23:34, 23 August 2016.
43 Nakuru Analysts, 20:32–20:38, 31 August 2016.
44 Nakuru Analysts, 1:57–14:02 pm, 1 January 2016.
45 Nakuru Analysts, 8:19–8:25am, 23 September 2017.
46 Shirky, Here Comes Everybody, 7.
47 Interview with Patrick at Milele Resrt, Nakuru, September 2017.
48 Facilitation was through contributions from members of NA.
50 Jenni, interview June, 2016, Nakuru.
51 Interviews with Kinyanjui (June 2016; February 2017; October, 2017), all in Nakuru.
52 Part of a nationwide campaign that was organized and facilitated online by several activists and advocacy groups through online and offline campaigns.
53 Interview with officials of Maskani ya Taifa (June, 2016, Nakuru) an activist group in Kenya, and represented also in NA by one of their staff.
54 The petition in Nakuru to ban plastic bags revealed the difficulty of County governments in passing far reaching laws without backing from the national government. While Nakuru County was able to ban plastic bags, it could not control the flow of plastic bags from neighbouring counties. The national ban thus helped give effect, to the local County law.
56 Interview with Victor Ngatia, October 2017, Nakuru.
57 Interview with Patrick Kinyua, October 2017, Nakuru.
58 Interview with Emma Mbugua, October 2017, Nakuru.
59 Interview with James Mwaura, October 2017, Nakuru.
60 Focus group discussions in Milele Resort, October 2017, Nakuru.
61 Interview with Wafula, October 2017, Milele Resort, Nakuru.