Political Communication for Sustainable Development in Kenya

Abstract

In Africa, most events are crowned by political overtones. If these forums can be used to communicate information for development purposes, the continent could be far in terms of development.  A number of mass media scholars (Bennett, 2003; Diamond, 2004; Graber, 2010) have noted that democratization and the processes of achieving it must be tailored toward increasing domestic and global awareness and developing sophisticated citizenry. More than ever before, African governments have consistently indicated their commitment to political and economic development, but this laudable objective seems far-fetched as a result of the minimal role of the media in educating the public and encouraging effective participation and responsiveness.This paper is geared towards investigating how political communication and messages can be utilized for development purposes. With the globalization of economies over the past two decades, there has been an increasing surge in Africa for strategic political and economic relationships. Unfortunately, the political systems in the continent present serious challenges to the rest of the world which views African countries as politically and economically unsustainable.

Keywords: Political communication, politics, economic development, participation, media, globalization, sustainable development, democracy