Ruto hires bloggers to tackle negative publicity on state projects

President William Ruto received a goat present at Kahuro Shopping Centre in Kiharu, Murang'a County during his development tour in the region on Aug 9, 2024. [PCS]

President William Ruto's administration is intensifying its communication strategy to counter negative publicity that sparked public outrage and fueled Generation Z protests over two months.

As part of this strategy, the government is enlisting bloggers and influencers to promote projects like the controversial housing levy, which has damaged the President's image.

Bloggers have been hired to advocate for the affordable housing project, which some Kenyans have criticised as a scam. These bloggers are focusing on highlighting completed units and the funds used.

The Standard has established that bloggers, including those with YouTube channels and Facebook users, are being paid between Sh30,000 and Sh100,000 per month to post positive stories.

One revealed the selection is based on follower count and that the campaign is spearheaded by the State Department for Housing and Urban Development.

“We have already started working and that’s the reason social media is flooding with posters and other materials highlighting the gains made by the housing project. The scope of our work is largely to counter the existing perception about the project, especially claims that it is a white elephant project akin to a pyramid scheme,” said a blogger who requested not to be named for fear of losing the contract.

Some Kenyans and leaders, including anti-government MPs, have described the housing levy as a potential scam. Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba has claimed that the levy is being used to collect taxes, but that these funds are not being directed to the housing programme.

Pay loans

“The thinking behind the housing levy is a means of collection of money that we desperately need to pay loans,” she said.

The campaign to support the housing fund coincides with ongoing parliamentary investigations into how Sh20 billion from the levy was invested in Treasury Bills.

Additionally, the government is employing National Government Administrative Officers (Ngao) to monitor project progress and report any instances of contractors abandoning their work.

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, speaking to Regional Commissioners, County Commissioners, and Deputy County Commissioners at an event attended by the President at the Kenya School of Government in Lower Kabete, Nairobi County, instructed them to provide timely reports on the progress of launched projects.

"In your respective offices, there is a big board with the name of the office of the president. Because you are the ears and the eyes of the president at the grassroots, you represent the president in his personal and official capacity. So when government programmes are not going on well and you are quiet, you have let the President down.

“I want to encourage you to take keen interest in all the government programmes going on in your areas of jurisdiction, irrespective of the ministries. It is your work to make sure that the projects the President has launched are going on. And if they don't, you have a duty to file a report to that effect on behalf of the President.

President's dignity

"So when the President has launched a project and the contractors have abandoned the site after one week, the dignity of the person of the president is put into question. You have a responsibility to make sure that does not happen. And when it happens, you must let your Principal Secretaries and the Cabinet secretaries know, so that the necessary intervention can be made,” said Gachagua.

The President recently noted that poor communication and inadequate public engagement had left some Kenyans disconnected from government programmes, policies, and projects. He said that this undermined the country's transformational plans.

"This is about the ways and means of accomplishing what we all agree are our shared aspirations as a people: a governance that delivers security and prosperity, inclusively and sustainably," he said during the swearing-in of his second Cabinet at State House, Nairobi.

Last month, Ruto attributed Kenyans' resistance to the Finance Bill, 2024 to a lack of proper communication. He said his communication team may have failed to provide adequate information regarding some of the new tax measures introduced in the Bill.

He noted that if he had been given a chance to explain the content of the Bill and its impact on the country’s economy, every Kenyan would have agreed with him.

"We did not explain ourselves better. I am sure my communication team failed, and our communication architecture did not deliver. The message did not get out to the people," he stated, while citing contentious Land issues that Kenyans had argued were in the Bill "yet this was untrue".