‘ENEMIES’ OF TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION IN KENYA

Technical Communication has a crucial role to play in our country’s development agenda. This is because it facilitates sharing of complex concepts, ideas and information in a simplified way. This helps people understand how to use products, services, technology as well as the existing business and government policies and regulations. The adage, information is power, draws heavily from this profession

There is technical communication in every corner of the economy regardless which direction we choose look. It exists in government, private sector and in the non-profit sectors. It’s also in our varied industries such as Agricultural, Health, Education, Finance and Manufacturing. Then, it is indispensable in research and advocacy. It manifest openly in the numerous reports, proposals, and manuals produced annually. It is essentially, a part of our daily lives.

Given that this field does not attempt to make products and organizations look good than they actually are, puts it on a high ethical pedestal. This naturally makes it attract subtle antipathy from ‘not so transparent’ players in the economy. Therefore, from organizations and government departments that wish to conceal information to bush-league enterprises that produce and sell unstandardized goods and services, technical communication is not appreciated. Despite this unfriendliness, its principles of honesty, completeness and purposefulness remain its most invaluable characteristic.

This profession is suffocating in Kenya because of many unsupportive and dishonest subject matter experts who refuse to provide all the required and relevant information. This is worsened by laws that indefinitely classify public information as confidential. Furthermore, there are the unprofessional researchers and analysts who create data and facts from their imagination. Then, we have the many irresponsible policy makers who want grand development plans written for aesthetic reasons but without the intention nor the possibility for implementation. 

Technical communication is not being adequately utilized in civic education to sensitize the people of their rights as enshrined in the constitution. Therefore, members of parliament will still believe their work is to initiate development projects in their villages. It is not used adequately to provide an accurate understanding on how the Uwezo fund can benefit the women and youth by giving the targeted groups researched viable projects that they can engage in as to enable them repay the loans and post  decent profits.

It is not used to show how the government is creating jobs, fighting poverty or explain the actual benefits of the standard gauge rail road. For instance, exactly how many jobs will be created, of which cadres are they, how much will they earn, how will they be distributed along the route and are they permanent or temporary? How far have we gone with vision 2030 and what contingency measures are we taking as a country to counter the delays in achieving the goals? 

Additionally, it is not being used in journalism to ask politicians and opinion leaders hard questions concerning their campaign promises and their political ideologies nor to give deep analysis of financial and economic news or reports. 

Then there are the increasing phenomena of suboptimal commercial enterprises sprouting in the country. For instance, how does a qualified technical communicator assist Murugu Herbal Clinic write quality user instructions for their ‘medicines’? 

And how do the regulators in the health sector allow ‘medicines’ and products without labels specifying clearly their ingredients, dosage, side effects and production processes and procedures to be marketed openly. How do such enterprises aspire to obtain patents and intellectual property rights as well as an export market without professionally written documentation in the 21 century?