Kenyans Petition Local Stations Over Soap Opera Craze

Kenyans on social media networks are once again seeking to exert the influence they now firmly believe they possess to petition local television stations to alter their programming.

The petition, which was filed to Internet Petitions (iPetitions) on 16th May 2012, features a request to a select number of stations to ‘improve the quality’ of programming particularly by reducing the number of soap operas shown during prime time screening, which is considered the hours between 5.00pm and 10.00pm each day.

While acknowledging that the soap operas screened at these times are indeed popular, the creator of the petition insisted that there are a vast majority of Kenyans who are ‘suffering’ in silence though they share similar views. CCK is included in the signage, as the petitioner requests Kenya’s broadcasting control body to pursue their mandate of ensuring quality control.

The goal of this petition is to reach 100,000 signatures. So far they have 41.

Click here to read more about social media trends Kenyans have started

iPetitions claims to be the most successful online activism tool, though governments in the West are weary of such online practices mainly because of the anonymity involved as wwell as the fact that the petitions are basically open to anyone with an internet connection.

Interesting successful online petition cases include one to the Prime Minister of the UK in 2007 over car tracking and road pricing which attracted over 1.8million signatures (the UK’s population was estimated at around 60 million at the time).