Aug 9, 2011

The CBK governor should cut the jargon


The Central Bank of Kenya governor Professor Njuguna Ndungu has continually failed to communicate to Kenyans. It is hard for any ordinary Kenyan to follow his press briefings because they are just so full of financial jargon.

It was difficult to understand what he meant when he went public explaining why the Kenyan shilling has been depreciating against major world currencies. If his communique was only supposed to be understood by a selective few other than the general public, then he had no point of addressing a press conference. He could easily have sent press statements to media houses and save us the trouble of having to listen to his jargon.

Its time he understood that CBK’s target audience is not just the media and financial institutions. Any communication to the general public ought to be easy and comprehensive. It may be expected that the media will always unpack his jargon but more often than not, it only replicates what he says.

Financial information is not a reserve of a few. Ordinary Kenyans are major stakeholders in the economy too and they deserve to get the whole picture of what is happening to the economy. Professor Ndungu will therefore need to find an effective way of communicating to all stakeholders. CBK might just have to consider hiring communication specialists as well. 

Kosprin