THE WATER ISSUE REPORTJan 2017 – Mar 2018

R E S E A R C H C O N S U L T I N G

M E D I A M O N I T O R I N G

Coverage Highlights

Overall Publicity Share by Media

Coverage Regions

Thematic Breakdown

Monthly Coverage Trends

Radio Coverage Summary

TV Coverage Summary

Print Coverage Summary

Coverage Highlights

Region Coverage Highlights

Nairobi Region• The Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company workers called off their strike after meeting with governor Mike Sonko.

• The Nairobi Water and City Sewerage Company directed all car wash service vendors using their treated water to seize operations

• Kiambu and Nairobi residents had dry taps due to scheduled pipeline maintenance.

Western Kenya• The Kakamega government launched a five-year plan for Sh3 billion expansion of its clean water and sewerage system.

• Busia, Kakamega, Bungoma and Vihiga to benefit from forty four billion project from The Ministry of Water

• African Development Bank supported Migori county with sh200M to improve water supply

Lower Eastern

• Machakos county government was urged to intervene on Yatta Water Services management.

• Machakos county drilled a borehole at Kathaana, Kangundo to address water shortage in the area

• Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka accused the government of instigating a collapse of the multi-billion Thwake dam project through 'deliberately manufactured

integrity issues.

South Rift• 4,000 residents of Nkorinkori Narok County set to benefit from clean water after a dam was constructed in the area.

• Ewaso Ngiro South Development Authority launched a number of water projects in Kajiado and Narok counties as one of the measures by the national government to

tackle drought in the two semi-arid regions

Central Kenya• 1500 homes in Nyeri County set to benefit from clean drinking water, a project undertaken by Aspiring Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua.

• The construction of the 19 billion shillings Thiba Dam in Kirinyaga county finally kicked off

• Kenya Dental Association DR Adrew Waitende requested the central Government and county Government to make sure bore hole water is tested and treated.

North Rift• More than 450,000 people in West Pokot County to benefit from clean water after the completion of the Murur Sioi Water dam.

• Various schools risked being closed due to acute shortage of water in Turkana and Baringo Counties

Upper Eastern

• An exercise to unblock a clogged sewer line in Garissa town turned tragic, when two employees of the Garissa Water and Sewerage Company slipped into the

manhole.

• Pastoralists In Garissa moved to other counties in search of water and pasture.

• Garissa Town was hit by an acute shortage of water, threatening the lives of locals who are now calling on the county and national government to intervene urgently.

Coastal Region• Mombasa governor Ali Hassan Joho was called upon by locals to address water issues in the all of coastal region.

• Governors from the coastal region faulted the appointment of the regions new water service board CEO Jacob Kimtai.

• Mombasa and Kilifi residents facing water shortage were informed that the shortage was as a result of a debt amounting to Sh32 million owed to Kenya Power.

Overall Publicity Share by Media

Generally, Radio dominated water based stories on media

during the reviewed period accounting for 60% of the total

coverage stories. This was largely due to high number of

media outlets on the platform as compared to the other

platforms. Print and TV accounted for 23% and 17% of the

total publicity volumes respectively.

Among the stories that drove high coverage on Radio

during the period under review included water shortages,

diseases due to contaminated water as well as corporate

issues. Urban stations, especially Radio Africa Group

stations drove most of these stories during the reviewed

period.

Coverage on TV was high on KBC Channel 1, NTV and

Inooro TV. Most of the coverage stories on TV during the

reviewed period included Water shortage cases as well as

corporate issues especially regarding Nairobi Water and

Sewerage Company.

Publicity on Print was high on Daily Publications,

particularly The Star, Daily Nation and The Standard. Water

Shortages, Drought and Water Treatment issues were some

of the major coverage drivers on Print during the period

under review.

Print23%

Radio60%

TV17%

OVERALL FREQUENCY; 16,648 SUMMARIES

Coverage by Regions

During the period under review, Nairobi Region

had the highest count of coverage stories mainly

reporting on cholera outbreak cases due to use of

contaminated water. Corporate issues that

included strike by Nairobi Water Company workers

protesting against a decision by the company

board to re-appoint the MD for another term also

drove high coverage during the reviewed period.

Water Shortages and Irrigation issues were the

major coverage drivers on the Western Kenya

region during the reviewed period.

Water Conservation, Water Shortages due to

prolonged drought drove high coverage in Lower

Eastern Region during the period under review.

Publicity in South Rift and Central Kenya Regions

was dominated by construction of Dams including

Thiba dam, Itare Dam as well as other water

development projects in a bid to enable more

people living in the region to access clean water

2,022

1,232

879

614

558

483

339

271

Nairobi

Western Kenya

Lower Eastern

South Rift

Central

North Rift

Upper Eastern

Coastal Region

Coverage by Themes

Generally, Water Shortages and Drought were the major issues of coverage on media during the reviewed period, both accounting for

47% of the total coverage stories. Such incidences were prevalent in Nairobi, Western Kenya, Lower Eastern and North Rift Regions.

Drought Issues were high in North Rift Regions, especially Turkana County wherein residents had to walk for long to get water.

High corporate issues in Nairobi Region was largely driven by strike by Nairobi Water Company workers protesting against re-

appointment of the MD.

Water Treatment Cases manly highlighted on outbreak of diseases as a result of usage of contaminated water.

Water Shortage

32%

Drought15%

Corporate

13%

Water Conserva

tion12%

Water Treatmen

t11%

Irrigation9%

Floods6%

World Water Day2%

Coverage By Themes

280

45

556

200

99

19

55

259

21 4

2

28

114

82

15

132

34

12

176

30 48

19

88

61

11

52

18

12 3

1

74

19 33

32

19

22

13

63

148

23

18 29

11

51 8

3

4 13

9 1225

4

29

1 3 11 19

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Water Shortage Drought Corporate WaterConservation

Water Treatment Irrigation Floods

Issues By Region

Nairobi Western Kenya Lower Eastern South Rift Central North Rift Upper Eastern Coastal Region

Monthly Coverage Trends

Water related coverage was at its low during the month of August as the focus shifted towards the Country’s general elections.

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

1,800

Jan-17 Feb-17 Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17 Jul-17 Aug-17 Sep-17 Oct-17 Nov-17 Dec-17 Jan-18 Feb-18 Mar-18

Print 335 269 342 293 202 285 185 187 217 250 193 251 272 389 221

Radio 1,048 784 1,028 746 430 649 390 271 516 590 566 723 818 916 527

TV 256 236 211 142 132 153 80 93 139 171 184 151 252 366 189

Total 1,639 1,289 1,581 1,181 764 1,087 655 551 872 1,011 943 1,125 1,342 1,671 937

Print Radio TV Total

High publicity at the beginning of the

year was largely due to water shortages

in various parts of the country as a result

of prolonged drought

Drought that led to scarcity of

water was the major issue of

coverage during the month of

January & February 2018

Radio Coverage Summary

As noted earlier, urban stations drove high coverage on Radio

during the reviewed period.

Among the major coverage drivers on Radio during the reviewed

period included;A section of Nairobi locals complained of water shortage

The Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company workers called off their

strike after meeting with governor Mike Sonko.

Levels at Ndakaini Dam dropped to an all-time low of less than 20%

Ten thousand children risked dropping out of school due to food and

water shortage in Baringo county.

More than150 billions were put aside for water projects in Western

region in order to deal with water shortage in the region.

New research revealed that close to 17 million Kenyans cannot

access clean drinking water.

418

387

373

369

344

334

310

298

294

292

272

266

265

265

248

236

234

215

205

4,377

Classic 105

East FM

Radio Jambo

BAHARI FM

County FM

Citizen Radio

KBC English Service

Baraka FM

West FM

Radio Taifa

Mbaitu FM

Milele FM

Athiani FM

Musyi FM

Inooro FM

Kass FM

Kameme FM

Pilipili FM

Kaya FM

Others

COVERAGE BY STATIONS; 10,002 SUMMARIES

Water Shortage

36%

Water Treatment

12%

Drought12%

Corporate12%

Water Conservation

11%

Irrigation9%

Floods6%

World Water Day2%

COVERAGE BY THEMES ON RADIO

TV Coverage Summary

385

364

327

292

232

221

220

196

175

126

91

44

44

28

10

KBC Channel 1

NTV

Inooro TV

K24

Njata TV

Kameme TV

Citizen TV

KTN News

Kass TV

KTN

Ebru Africa

CGTN

Gikuyu TV

CNBC

Pwani TV

COVERAGE BY STATIONS; 2,755 SUMMARIES

Water Shortage

26%

Drought24%

Corporate12%

Water Conservation

11%

Irrigation10%

Water Treatment

9%

Floods7%

World Water Day1%

COVERAGE BY THEMES ON TV

KBC, NTV and Inooro TV had the highest count of coverage

stories on TV during the reviewed period.

Major coverage drivers on TV included;Nairobi residents spent more to buy water for their household use,

following rationing introduced

Environment CS Keriako Tobiko urged the Water Services Regulatory

Board to use all the resources at its disposal to deal with corrupt

officials in the water sector.

12 counties expected to benefit from Ksh 50 million clean drinking

water initiative conducted by P&G in partnership with World Vision

Most parts of Coast region were hit by water shortage with

residents calling on the government to address the issue.

Kenya Water Towers Agency announced first batch of additional

water towers in the country.

Print Coverage Summary

733

679

559

350

312

125

118

105

87

84

79

75

53

43

39

36

35

32

22

22

21

282

The Star

Daily Nation

The Standard

The People Daily

Business Daily

Taifa Leo

Standard on Saturday

Saturday Nation

Sunday Nation

Sunday Standard

The Nairobian

The East African

Daily Nation - Unknown…

MyGov

Weekly Citizen

The Sun Weekly

XNEWS

The Sunday Express

The Star - Siasa

Business Daily - BD Life

Coastweek

Others

COVERAGE BY PUBLICATIONS; 3,891 SUMMARIES

Water Shortage

21%

Drought20%Water

Conservation16%

Corporate15%

Water Treatment

11%

Irrigation11%

Floods5%

World Water Day1%

COVERAGE BY THEMES ON PRINT

Among the major coverage drivers on Print during the reviewed

period included;The Kakamega government launched a five-year plan for Sh3 billion

expansion of its clean water and sewerage system.

Twelve counties set to access clean water for drinking after World

Vision and Procter and Gamble partnered.

The United Nations warned that over 14 million people are at risk of

starvation across the Southern Africa region as it continues to face

widespread water shortages

Water levels in Lake Naivasha dropped sharply following the drying

up of six rivers flowing into the water body.

The Ministry of Water and Irrigation was ordered to award the

controversial Sh36 billion Thwake dam tender to the China Gezhouba

Group within 14 days.

Learning institutions were told to adopt rainwater harvesting

technology to cut down on expenses.

Thank youResearch & Consulting Unit Head of Research and Consulting UnitFred Otieno : Fred.otieno@reelforge.comMobile: +254 720 178317

BU

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Reelforge Media Monitoring

@reelforge

@reelforge