COURT: WHY ELSIE CHOSE KUANGUKA NA TOP CREAM OF BLOGGERS.
"The WR could as well want to lure the cream on her side....... To inject zeal in her media"
Opinion by Laurence Imbai Mkata
LAST week, Kakamega Women MP Elsie Muhanda went public that she has sued Governor Fernandes Barasa, his wife Janet and a host of bloggers for an alleged assault on her reputation and character.
Thru city Lawyer Danstan Omari, the MP claimed she took the action after two issues happened that she claims amounted to defamation.
The issues include the death of a Polytechnic principal and an alleged rendezvous by the MP by "small boys in hotel rooms".
I will not go into the merits or demerits of the case but mainly focus on the communicators with expertise within the sued team and look at each's capability.
One thing that catches the eye is that among the said bloggers, three are seasoned journalists with a huge following online and are pivotal to communication directly or indirectly to the Government of HE Fernandes Barasa Governor.
The choice to sue the three, Denice Weche, Joel Eshikumo and Dan Makori among "ordinary communicators" is a technical attempt to cut back publicity for the activities of the Governor for an audience of over 200,0000
Denice Weche: Once the communication officer for the Woman MP, has a huge visibility online. Tho non controversial, Weche communicates without stopping or being detracted he has focus.
Tho not employed formerly in communication of the county, the blogger and content creator is rich in information dissemination and has links across western province.
By Hon Elsie choosing to sue him, the thinking is activities of the Governor will stop online because for Hon Muhanda, her media team lacks the self drive and are only active when she has activities in Kakamega.
Dan Makori. Little is actually known about him because he came in the picture after the 2022 election that brought a new Governor for Kakamega.
Online, Dan dances like the wind. He publishes everything interesting within and without Goverment and is consistent.
Employed as a communication officer by the county, the blogger and Facebooker is said to be an Engineer by profession.
Suing Makori could be an attempt to kill consistency in team Barasa because he does not easily drop topics he gives his all on a topic untill he could as well sound boring pushing one idea to a logical end.
Joel Eshikumo: The proprietor of eshikumo2030.blogspot.com is a trained journalist, he majors in investigative journalism and has a huge archive of figures, dates, videos putting in mind that he has been around for sometime.
The bullish former reporter for the Weekly Citizen and a columnist for the Weekly Review, has a tough skin and how he was convinced to run the blog leaning on Government side, still baffles many.
Eshikumo has a history of not looking back when he falls out with a subject he moves on vitriolically, poisoning his audience against the subject all his awake hours.
He has taken on giants in and outside court rooms. He took on Former Kakamega Governor Whyclife Oparanya for the years as MP, Minister then Governor with little or no regret.
He took on Evans Kidero when he called him a thief at the time when everyone was afraid to raise a finger at the MD as Mumias was being looted. He has powerful friends and enemies too.
Suing the journalist cum blogger could have been informed to starve the Barasa's side the much needed favorable analysis towards 2027 with heavy comparison and contrast pitting the Governor and his opponents.
He belongs to over 300 WhatsApp groups, his word is snapped up by readers in Kakamega, he is short to the point and those close to his say he has tons of courage with a very good grasp of English.
A sneek review of his blog shows a combination of Journalism at its merit. Being dragged to court is nothing new to him he has won several defamation suits and if there is an interesting part is to see what the complainant has against Eshikumo known as Eshikumo2030 on most platforms.
It will also be interesting to see if the Governor, also sued will stand by the said "team" putting in mind that each of the bloggers has unique attributes on the communication front.
Honourable Elsie could also want to use the case as a bargaining chip to try and lure the accused especially the three on her side to inject the much needed zeal in her communication team that is not as self driven as that aligned to HE Fernandes Barasa.
All said and done, at most the case could go beyond 2027 but will have a direct bearing on the elections there in.
The author is an analytical expert majoring on local politics in Kakamega County.
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