02.19.2010 at 11:39 am | 1 Comment »

At a crossroads: Kenyan blogger comes to the rescue

After a peaceful vote, things changed dramatically when results were inexplicably delayed raising tensions across the country.

Live media

As the population became restive, the government banned live media to cut the flow of information in a move meant to ease anxiety.

Ms Okolloh, a lawyer and blogger, and indeed many Kenyans were now starved of information, a crucial commodity at the time.

Ms Ory Okolloh, a kenyan blogger, who set up the Ushahidi blog that helped map the post election violence in 2008. Photo by Gregor Rohrig/ Flickr.com (CC)

Then, the rumours started.

First, the president was to take the oath of office in the cover of darkness. That the country was on fire: spontaneous violence had broken out in various towns- Kisumu, Eldoret in West Kenya and Mombasa (Coast Province).

Strong urge

Who could be trusted? She felt a strong urge to know the truth and it was at this point that she mobilised volunteers to set up a site where people could document and find real-time reports about the violence.

A blog called Ushahidi that means “testimony” in Kiswahili was born. She invited wananchi (citizens) to send text and email messages of events as they observed them firsthand, which were then detailed on a map.

Bloggers took on the role of reporters in documenting the poll process and mapping the violence following a disputed election that pitted two bitter rivals Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga.

The former was seeking his second term as president while opposition leader Odinga was out to oust Kibaki.

Stolen election

Mr Kibaki emerged victorious but the opposition protested saying the Mr Odinga was rigged out of power and vowed not to accept a stolen election.

Kenyans queue to vote during the General Election in December 2007. Photo by Ianschuler/Flickr.com (CC)

The violence that broke out left 1, 133 people dead and a further 650,000 other displaced from their homes.

The two later agreed to share power after a peace deal was brokered by former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan.

Mr Kibaki retained the presidency and Mr Odinga was named the Prime Minister in a coalition government.

Crowd-source newsgathering

This method of crowd-source newsgathering provided a crucial supply of information after a government ban on live media.

The aim of the blog was to get the right information about what was going on since the media blackout fanned a lot of rumours.

The reports generated by the blog were passed on to journalists and aid organisations to enable them get the right picture of the crisis.

This was especially helpful in remote and outlying areas of the capital, Nairobi.

The media used the information to reach the most affected areas and file their own reports while aid groups provided relief to the victims of the violence.

Borrow content

Reporters borrowed content from the blog to follow up on leads.

For example, a villager in Bogoria in the Rift Valley, William Kimosop, stumbled upon a group of women and children who had fled the fighting.

They had been hiding in a ravine and their supplies were running out. There were no government officials or police around.

Mr Kimosop sent a text message to a friend in Nairobi, asking her to get help from aid agencies.

The plea got picked up by Ushahidi and within six days a Red Cross truck reached the group after the media had highlighted the case.

Mapping violence

Ushahidi have also been involved in mapping violence against immigrants in South Africa and tracking hotspots during unrest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The blog also helped in tracing the most affected areas after the devastating Haiti earthquake. Aid agencies used their software to provide humanitarian assistance.

It also documented areas worst-hit during the Swine Flu outbreak.

The US newspaper The Washington Post used Ushahidi to map snow clean-up efforts after the heavy snowstorm that hit the country February.

It is safe to say that without the website so many things would have gone unreported during the Kenya crisis as the blog was able fill the gap left by the media.

| Tagged Case Studies, Featured, blog, election violence, kenya, Okolloh, USG, ushahidi