DAILY NATION

Thursday March 18, 2010 50 GOLDEN YEARS I

THE GOLDEN YEARS

SOUVENIR ISSUE
II | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
PUBLISHER:
NATION MEDIA GROUP
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR:
JOSEPH ODINDO
EDITORIAL ADVISOR:
WA N G E T H I M WA N G I
PROJECT EDITOR:
N I C K WA C H I R A
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS:
GERRY LOUGHRAN, LUCY
O R I A N G , K I B E K A M U N Y U,
RUTH LUBEMBE
CREATIVE DIRECTOR:
K A M AU WA N Y O I K E
PA G E D E S I G N E R S :
DENNIS MAKORI, PETER
C H E S E R E T, C O N R A D K A RU M E
PHOTO EDITOR:
JOAN PERERUAN
PHOTO RESEARCHERS:
NOORBEGUM KANANI,
A N N I E L N J O K A , E VA N S
SASAKA,
C H A R L E S B E T T, M A R I A
WA M B UA K A N I N I
LEAD WRITERS:
GERRY LOUGHRAN, JOHN
KAMAU
CONTRIBUTORS:
N I C K C H I T T Y, G E RA R D
WILKINSON, PETER
CHADWICK, PHILIP OCHIENG,
J O H N M C H A F F I E , PA U L
REDFERN, JEFF OTIENO,
M A R G A R E T TA WA G A C H E RU,
MACHARIA GAITHO, DICK
DAWSON, YUSUF K . DAWOOD,
JOHN FOX, DOROTHY
K W E Y U, JA I N D I K I S E R O,
M U T U M A M AT H I U, E R I C
O B I N O. WA N G U I M A I NA ,
G A K I H A W E RU, WA N J I RU
WA I T H A K A , K E N O PA L A ,
CALEB ATEMI, GAVIN
B E N N E T T, K U I K I N YA N J U I ,
AMOS NGAIRA,FRANK
W H A L L E Y, K I B E K A M U N Y U,
P H I L I P M WA N I K I , S H R AVA N
VIDYARTHI, HEZEKIAH
W E P U K H U LU, D O R O T H Y
C H E B E T, F R E D O LU O C H ,
M U NA WA H O M E , R A C H E L
JONES, DAVID ADUDA , SAMMY
WA M B UA , L I Z M U T H O N I , F R E D
OMONDI, NJERI KIHANG’A,
COSMAS BUTUNYI, FRED
OLOUCH, JENIFFER MUIRURI,
WILLIAM OERI.
Afte≥ 5 decades, the futu≥e
depends on ability to adapt
The Nation has become a journalistic mzee of East
Africa, writes HIS HIGHNESS THE AGA KHAN
A
S THE NATION MEDIA Group
(NMG) marks its 50th anniver-
sary, it would be too limiting
to perceive this occasion as a mere
milestone in a history of a media or-
ganization, no matter how successful.
The Nation’s path has been closely en-
twined with the history of Kenya, East
Africa, and the entire continent during
a period filled with momentous devel-
opments.
NMG itself has undergone a remark-
able transformation. From two strug-
gling Kenyan newspapers, one Kiswa-
hili and one English, half a century
ago, the group has grown into the larg-
NMG ITSELF HAS UNDERGONE A REMARKABLE
TRANSFORMATION. FROM GROWN INTO THE
LARGEST MULTI-MEDIA ENTERPRISE IN EAST AND
CENTRAL AFRICA.
est multi-media enterprise in East and
Central Africa. At the same time, the
organization has evolved from a small
private company into a publicly-traded
corporation, one of the largest on the
Kenya stock exchange, with a majority
of its shares owned by individual East
African shareholders.
My own role in the Nation Media
Group has also evolved considerably.
Seven years ago I gave my personal
shares in NMG to the Aga Khan Fund
for Economic Development (AKFED)
– the economic development arm of
the Aga Khan Development Network
(AKDN). The move not only gave NMG
a new source of corporate strength
but it also anchored the company in
a broader development philosophy
designed to bring excellence and best
practices to societies in the developing
world. It also allowed NMG to benefit
from the Network’s significant experi-
ence in East Africa.
The Aga Khan Fund for Economic
Development is neither a charitable
foundation nor a vehicle for wealth gen-
eration. It is a for-profit, international
development agency that, because of
its institutional background and social
conscience, invests in projects, which
will make a positive contribution to the
quality of life for those who are impact-
ed by their activities.
The broader philosophy of the Aga
Khan Development Network is found-
ed on the premise that developing soci-
eties deserve the best and that settling
for less, though often tempting, is an in-
creasingly dangerous option. Our world
is competitive: like other AKFED com-
panies, the Nation Media Group must
strive to meet world-class standards if
it is to thrive and grow in the globalized
world of the 21st century
Our Network, I should also empha-
size, is active in a broad range of de-
velopment fields, from environmental,
humanitarian and civil society projects
to microfinance and infrastructure in-
vestments, to cultural, health-related
and educational support. East Africa
has been an important setting for our
work in all of these arenas, including,
most recently, major new initiatives in
education.
For example, Kenya is the home of
the first functioning Aga Khan Acad-
emy, located in Mombasa, and one of
a network of 18 schools that will even-
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
tually provide world class primary
and secondary education to talented
students in 14 countries across three
continents. I am pleased that East Af-
rica will also host the continent’s first
faculty of Arts and Sciences of the Aga
Khan University (AKU) as well as the
university’s new Graduate School of
Media and Communication. It is my
sincere hope that the school, which
will be initially located in Nairobi and
later extended to the new Arusha cam-
pus, will help Africa in particular and
the developing world in general to de-
velop an ever-stronger corps of owners,
media managers, public-spirited pro-
fessional journalists who will be able to
adapt and excel in a rapidly changing
media environment.
I believe that the media in general
and the Nation Group in particular can
play a central role in the shaping of the
region and the continent in the years
ahead, as part of the growing influence
of civil society institutions in an in-
creasingly pluralistic environment.
Indeed Kofi Annan, arbitrator of the
post-election reconciliation agreement
in Kenya, acknowledged the Nation’s
work in mobilising the forces of civil
society in the cause of stability.
Anniversaries tend to lend them-
selves to reminiscing about the past—
and, most appropriately, to saluting
those who have been a part of that past,
as I am pleased to join in doing. But
commemorative occasions also present
an excellent opportunity to look toward
the future. NMG has had an impressive
record of past achievement , dealing
successfully over five decades with a
wide variety of challenges and opportu-
nities, and emerging as what some have
called a journalistic “Mzee” of East Afri-
ca. But now, NMG’s future will depend
on its continued ability to learn and to
adapt, to attract leaders and employees
of the highest quality, and, driven by an
ethic of responsible service, maintain
the confidence of its reading, viewing,
advertising and shareholding constitu-
ents
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
We can’t go too fa≥ w≥ong
when a nation talks to itself
By PHILIP OCHIENG
When I first joined the Nation as
a cub reporter in 1966, I never
ceased to be intrigued by a mes-
sage in large print pinned on the
inside walls of the old Nation
House in Nairobi’s Tom Mboya
Street. Attributed to the propri-
etor of a well known chain of
London newspapers, it said: “A
free newspaper, I suppose, is a
NATION talking to itself”.
Whoever chose it as the Na-
tion’s motto – probably Michael
Curtis (the founding managing
director) or John Bierman (the
founding editor) or the Aga Khan
himself (the investor) -- it was a
most appropriate dictum for
the circumstances in which the
newspaper was being born.
For it was a brilliant play on
the word “nation”. It sought to
identify their coming publica-
tion with the problems and as-
pirations of another nation in
the last years of gestation -- the
Kenyan nation.
By naming itself NATION
and giving prominence to the
dictum on the walls, the instiga-
tors of the Nation were clear that
their aim was for the Nation to be
born together with the other na-
tion, so that, thereafter, the two
nations could grow up together
in symbiosis.
Would one nation (the peo-
CONGRATULATES
“THE NATION”
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TRAVEL MANAGEMENT PROVIDERS
OFFERING ALL TRAVEL RELATED SERVICE:
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ple and their new state) help
the other Nation (the newspa-
per group) to make its mission
manifest by gathering, editing,
commenting on and dissemi-
nating information countrywide
and internationally – freely and
without any fear of retaliation?
One of the more interesting
features of the first edition of
the Nation (in English) was a
cartoon depicting the Nation as
a baby boy sleeping in its cot,
watched by the redoubtable Tom
Mboya and Ronald Ngala among
other nationalists. Underneath
the cartoon, one commented:
“He’s a cute little boy, but will he
behave?”
The question could, of course,
also have gone the other way.
I was there at the place near
the Carnivore, Nairobi, and,
at midnight on December 12,
1963, watched as the Union flag
was lowered for good for Jomo
Kenyatta to hoist in its place
our new red-green-and-black
standard.
Have the newspaper and the
state maintained their initial
“good looks”? Have they be-
haved with admiration? Have
they proved of adequate mutual
assistance? The probable answer
is: Not as much as the two might
have hoped for as they celebrated
their first anniversaries.
Yet, of course, the answer to
- International tours
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- Transportation
- Conference and Event organisers
50 GOLDEN YEARS III
the last question must be a big
“Yes”. The two nations have been
almost identical-minded on a
large number of objective na-
tional interests.
However, one nation appears
to have progressively lapsed in
delivering its promises to the
people – in terms of quantity,
quality and speed – and the other
nation has tried to discharge its
duty in the division of labour
– by reminding its older twin of
this lapse.
This has necessarily created
tension between the two na-
tions, a tension which has in-
creased with age.
Policemen have invaded news-
paper offices and confiscated or
incapacitated their equipment.
They have clobbered journal-
ists and destroyed their cameras
on public occasions. Merely for
doing my duty with a critical
hand, I have had to spend har-
rowing days in squalid police
cells.
Having edited an official news-
paper, I know, however, that
many statesmen recognise that with the biggest, raciest and throws more light
the state desperately needs an most lucrative headlines. than heat into the social arena
independent press. Between our two nations, it of contention. Let neither of the The first
The editors, for their part, might be called rika rivalry or two nations forget the words of Nation pub-
know that, despite this unre- sibling jealousy or – as with the that London newspaper proprie- lished on
liability of the political class gods of mythology – “fraternal tor: A newspaper can be free only March 20,
– nay, probably because of it – it contending”. if it is a Nation talking to itself 1960. It sold
is the political class that prom- The task is to guide the con- freely, boldly, knowledgeably and for 30 cents.
ises to provide the newspapers tention in such a manner that it with a clear national purpose.
Complete supplies for your Special
EVENT
Tel : +254 722 524366
: +254 735 524366
Email: shaf@wananchi.com
Website: www.amazing-decor.com
IV | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
CHRONOLOGY FROM CONCEPTION TO MATURITY
1960-1985: The long journey for
The Nation was born at a time of turbulent world affairs
on March 20, 1960, and it described itself as East
Africa’s newest, liveliest Sunday newspaper
April 1960
After Banda, Jomo
“After Banda, Jomo” ran a front page story
on April 3, 1960. The release of Dr Hast-
ings Kamuzu Banda in Malawi had set off a
demand for Kenyatta’s release from restric-
tion. Back in London, Colonial Secretary Iain
Macleod was weighing all the options al-
though the Governor in Nairobi, Sir Patrick
Renison, was still hesistant to release
Kenyatta, a man he would later describe as
a “leader unto darkness and death”.
Macleod was of the view that the future
of the colonial economy would be solid if
“strong men” rose.
“Jomo: We Plead no More – Gichuru” was
one of the catchy headlines of the mo-
ment enough to cause panic within the
settler community. By this time it was felt
in London that if Kenyatta had solid sup-
port it would be better to set him free to
assume leadership in Kenya rather than let
internal power struggles wreck the country.
In a sense, Macleod was happy to have the
African nationalists go. On Banda, he had
told the Times of London: “He is not an evil
man” and honestly desires and works for his
people. But Banda was to later emerge, with
the help of the British as an example of an
astute African dictator. Had we called him
a “dynamic forward-looking leader” in our
editorial? Yes, we had.
B
y any measure, 1960
was an epoch-defining
year. At a time when
the Cold War between
the Kremlin and the West held a
fearful world in its grip, Ameri-
can spy pilot Gary Powers was
shot down over Soviet territory.
France tested its first atomic
bomb, Fidel Castro nationalised
industry in Cuba and Nikita
Khrushchev angrily pounded
his shoe on a desk at the United
Nations.
Africa was in ferment. The
Sharpeville massacre in South Af-
rica brought demands for nation-
al independence to boiling point
all over the continent and in
French West Africa, colony after
colony demanded and secured its
sovereignty. British Prime Minis-
ter Harold Macmillan signalled
that the same course must follow
in Anglophone Africa when he
declared, first in Accra, then in
Cape Town: “The wind of change
is blowing through this continent
and, whether we like it or not, the
growth of national consciousness
is a political fact…our national
policies must take account of it.”
Africa’s restlessness was mir-
rored in the United States, where
Afro-American students began a
series of sit-ins at lunch counters,
demanding an end to segregation
and recognition of blacks’ civil
rights. But two young Americans
hinted at a new era ahead.
At the Rome Olympics, Mu-
hammad Ali, then known as
Cassius Clay, won a boxing gold
medal, and presidential candi-
date John F. Kennedy first sug-
gested a peace corps be formed
to help the less-favoured nations,
an idea that came to fruition after
his election the following year.
It was into this turbulent world
that, on March 20, 1960, The Na-
tion was born. Describing itself
as “East Africa’s newest, liveli-
est Sunday,” a leading article de-
clared: “Very briefly, we intend to
live up to our name and do eve-
rything in our power to help the
various communities of East Af-
rica to build nations where peo-
ple of all races can live freely and
peacefully under the rule of law.
Beyond this, The Nation accepts
the desirability of the transfer of
power to African majorities in the
three territories of East Africa
within the next few years.”
Just as Macmillan’s “wind of
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
change” statement to South Af-
rica’s white lawmakers in Cape
Town was met with stony silence,
The Nation’s declared support for
African majority rule provoked a
similarly hostile reaction from
many in Kenya’s white, settler
community. Although Mau Mau
activities had long ended, a state
of emergency was still in force,
the economy was fragile, land
values were plummeting and the
talk among farmers was of sell-
ing-up and fleeing south.
On the day after The Nation’s
birth, a Johannesburg township
became an international byword
for atrocity and the newspaper’s
second issue carried the heading,
“Black Monday at Sharpeville.”
A spread of smuggled photos
showed the scattered bodies of
some 69 South African blacks
gunned down by Sten-gun-armed
police during a demonstration
against that country’s draconian
pass laws. Ten of the dead were
children and eight were women;
180 others were injured.
“There was no warning,” re-
ported The Nation’s special cor-
respondent, “no shots over the
heads of the crowd, not even fir-
ing at the feet. It was a concen-
trated, cold-blooded burst after
burst into the packed crowd.”
The massacre prompted wide-
spread outrage and internation-
al condemnation and became a
turning point in South African
history, driving the regime deep
into isolation until the fall of
apartheid many decades later.
But first, another South Af-
rican sensation grabbed head-
lines in Kenya. Just two weeks
after Sharpeville, a pro-empire,
anti-apartheid white farmer
shot Prime Minister Hendrik
Verwoerd twice in the face. The
tough old Afrikaner survived
and soon returned to power,
but in 1966, he was stabbed to
death in the Cape Town parlia-
ment building by a messenger
who was later declared insane.
Few new newspapers could have
feasted on such a significant diet
of events of immediately relevant
import.
The Nation was a Sunday
paper, changing its title to Sun-
day Nation shortly before the
Daily Nation was launched seven
months later. It was not the sort
of newspaper Kenyans were ac- Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.
customed to read. For a start, it
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
Nation from conception to maturity
The Nation’s support for majority rule as declared in its launch
issue, while proclaiming where the group’s sympathies lay, boldly
challenged the establishment’s accepted scenario for the path to
independence
was produced using the then
revolutionary web-offset meth-
od of printing, a new technology
which provided quality far ahead
of that available to other publish-
ing houses.
Also, unlike the broadsheet
East African Standard, which
dominated the market, it was
what is now known as a com-
pact. The shape alone reminded
expatriates of the popular British
tabloid, Daily Mirror, which they
considered sensational and unre-
liable. In fact, while it may have
been guilty of sensationalism and
self-aggrandisement, the Mirror
reported aggressively and consci-
entiously on issues of importance
and had its own network of corre-
spondents around the world.
The choice of newspapers in
colonial Kenya was limited. For
English speakers, in addition to
the Standard, there was the Sun-
day Post and a small number of
weekly magazines, prominent
among them the Kenya Weekly
News published in Nakuru. Eth-
nic newspapers were available,
mainly Asian, but including
Baraza and Jicho in Kiswahili. To
these had recently been added
Taifa Leo, the first Kiswahili daily
and the Nation Group’s first pub-
lishing effort, which it developed
in 1959 from a weekly bought
from private interests. There
were also publications devoted to
specific African community inter-
ests and written in the languages
of those communities.
There was no doubt where
Kenya’s established English-lan-
guage publications stood politi-
cally – four-square behind the
Governor and the colonial gov-
ernment which in turn acknowl-
edged the authority of the British
government in London. Indeed
the East African Standard carried
Britain’s coat of arms on its front
page until the day before Kenya
achieved independence, Decem-
ber 12, 1963. Thus The Nation’s
support for majority rule “within
the next few years” as declared in
its launch issue, while proclaim-
ing where the group’s sympathies
lay, boldly challenged the estab-
50 GOLDEN YEARS V
ABOVE: Kenyans
at the lancaster
conference in Lon-
don before inde-
pendence.
EXTREME LEFT:
Jomo Kenyatta
holds up signed
documents of
state.
LEFT: Presidents
Nyerere, Milton
Obote and Gen-
eral Idi Amin in
Nairobi to attend
the Uhuru celebra-
tions.
lishment’s accepted scenario for
the path to independence. This,
even among many sympathisers,
foresaw that if Africans were ever
to rule Kenya, it would be many,
many years in the future.
Commercially, however, The
Nation’s stance made it a hostage
to fortune, since illiteracy among
its target African audience was
high, while most of those with
consumer power found its po-
litical stance too radical by far.
It was evident that if the new
paper were to succeed, it would
be a long and punishing journey.
It proved to be so. The commit-
ment to African majority rule
was no accident.
Back in 1957, the Aga Khan,
leader of the Shia Imami Ismaili
Muslims worldwide, had been
talking with young African na-
tionalists such as Tom Mboya
and Julius Kiano about what lay
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
March 1960
Kanu is born
The formation of Kanu, a coalition
of political parties, was a milestone
in Kenyan politics. Uniting different
politicians who were leading small
parties was no mean task. It was no
wonder that Kanu faced managerial
problems. The stewardship at
headquarters was left to Mr Mwai
Kibaki, a young economist who had
been brought from Makerere to help
craft the party manifesto.
Kanu received popular support
among the Luo, Kikuyu and Kamba
and became the majority party.
But some of the early problems
within the party persisted and the
Nation expressed concern that the
internal wrangles might blow up in
government once Kanu took power.
“The Daily Nation asks it publicly
because we believe it is in Kanu’s
interests that these internal doubts
and quarrels should be faced
squarely, openly and as quickly
as possible. There can no longer
be any doubt that something is
seriously wrong with the party. Its
senior office holders do not act as
a team and there still appears to be
no proper machinery for ensuring
that policy statements are agreed
before they are issued to the public
and the Press,” wrote the Nation
in December 1961. “Kanu has a
duty to itself and to Kenya to deal
with the trouble-makers swiftly
and ruthlessly. In Mr Kenyatta,
Mr Gichuru and Mr Mboya, Kanu
possesses formidable leaders of
calibre and character.
VI | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
REFLECTIONS
How Nation echoed
the national story
WILFRED KIBORO:
Former Group Chief
Executive officer of Nation
Media and currently the
Group’s chairman.
I
came to a small com-
pany with turnover
of around one billion
shillings and profit a
quarter of a billion shillings
but our
vision was very clear - we
wanted to be the leading
media house in Kenya, Ugan-
da and Tanzania and later, the
Media of Africa for Africa.
However we were too depend-
ent on one product – the Daily
Nation – which contributed 95
per cent of our revenues. We
decided to diversify into radio,
television and digital.
We also introduced daily
magazine inserts to generate
new revenue streams.
But those were rough times
and in many ways the Nation
Media Group story became
the national story - the story
of how Kenyans struggled
against single party dictator-
ship and for the expansion of
the democratic space.
After a long struggle for li-
cences and then frequencies,
we got into broadcasting with
a bang. People loved what we
were putting out and advertis-
ers flocked to us. With time we
expanded our broadcasting
reach from Nairobi to other
towns such as Mombasa,
Nakuru and Kisumu.
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
A long and punishing
journey for the paper
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 coming African politicians. Believing outside investment proved impossible
they were entitled to a full say in the to secure and so funding of the venture,
in Kenya’s future. independence debate, he determined to with all its concomitant risks, came ex-
The Aga Khan assumed leadership start a newspaper that would be open clusively from the Aga Khan. John Bier-
of his community at the age of 20 on to all voices. man was hired from Fleet Street to be
the death of his grandfather. Having The Aga Khan’s media aide at the editor and editorial and production
lived in Kenya as a boy, in a house in time was Michael Curtis, a former edi- staff were recruited, mainly from Brit-
a Nairobi suburb, his association with tor of the News Chronicle in London, ain because of the paucity of trained
the country was no accident. He was and it was Curtis who became the archi- African journalists and managers.
well aware that most newspapers in tect of a group which grew eventually to The aim, however, stated and much
East Africa tended to be mouthpieces dominate the East and Central African repeated, was to create a newspaper
of the colonial governments, denying publishing market. In the straitened that would be “written and managed
any platform for the aspirations of up- circumstances of the time, however, by Africans for Africans.” Curtis rented
a former bakery on what was then Vic-
Commercially, however, The Nation’s stance made toria Street in central Nairobi, it was
it a hostage to fortune, since illiteracy among its adapted for newspaper production and
the foundations of the group were laid.
target African audience was high, while most of If Kenya’s conservative readers looked
those with consumer power found its political
stance too radical by far CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
With the 2002 election, the
people who had been agitat-
ing for change came to power
and we had to redefine our re-
lationship with them to fulfill
our mandate of keeping the
government on its toes
One of the key goals that kept
us focused generally was the
dream of joining the billion
shilling club in terms of prof-
its.
We achieved this in 2002 or
2003 and the Group is now
on track to hit the two billion
shilling mark.
When I joined in 1993 adver-
tising revenue was something
like Sh20 million a month. By
the time I left it was around
Sh20 million a day.
The two defining moments
of my tenure were installing
a new Sh750 million print-
ing press and our entry into Above: From
broadcasting. right, President
Another key time was the Jomo Kenyatta,
2007 election when we de- Julius Nyerere
liberately tried to maintain of Tanzania and
balance in our reporting. We Tom Mboya (dark
worked hard to try to bring suit) at the air-
the country together. port. Far left is
Now Nation must move with Daniel arap Moi.
the times and we have to reen- Left: Editor
gineer ourselves into the dig- George Githii
ital world to stay relevant. and manage-
Radio, television and the In- ment executives
ternet will merge and in ten accompany the
years time although our core Aga Khan during
business will still be informing an early visit to
people and linking consum- the Nation House
ers and others, our structure newsroom.
and the way we work will have NMG ARCHIVES
changed radically.
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010 50 GOLDEN YEARS VII
VIII | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
REFLECTIONS
Telling the sto≥y of The Nation f≥om bi≥th t
I have known the company
from birth to jubilee and can
say our performance has
been gold standard
By GERRY LOUGHRAN
I
cannot be sure when the
idea of writing a history
of the Nation group first
emerged, but I have a
memo in my files dated Octo-
ber 1995 stating that there were
strong reasons for publishing
such an account.
It said: “The proprietor’s vision
and strength of will (and invest-
ment commitment) have never
been properly acknowledged,
nor has the courage of our editors
and reporters. Finally, the whole
thing is a darned good story and
if we don’t tell it now, it will be
too late.”
We did not tell it immediately,
indeed we took nearly 15 years to
do so, but that had more to do
with bureaucratic and political
vicissitudes than with editorial
sloth. And when the story was
finally set out in a book, Birth of
a Nation, it proved, though I say
it myself, to be a very good story
indeed.
The management and staff of
UKWALA
SUPERMARKET LTD.
Congratulates
Nation Media Group Ltd
on their 50th Anniversary
We are Proud to be
associated with you
FOR THE BEST VALUE
ON GOODS & SERVICES
That I was
commissioned as
author was probably inevi-
table, since not only was I avail-
Author Gerry able, I had experience with the
Loughran Nation across the years -- from
and inset his the earliest days (1960-64 as a
book, Birth of sub-editor and assistant editor),
a Nation again in 1983 (executive editor)
and in the era of expansion and
maturity (1993-98 as a consult-
ant editor). Over many of these
years, I contributed a weekly Let-
ter from London to the Sunday
Nation, and indeed still do.
Thus tasked with telling a
story dating back 50 years, what
is the first thing an historian
would do? He would race to gath-
er the memories of the pioneers
– young men and women in the
1960s but now long retired, scat-
tered far from Africa, perhaps
physically not too well. Written
sources could be scanned later.
The search proved long and
arduous but exciting, too, as re-
tirees were located one by one
and happily committed to tape
memories that were wholly
truthful and authentic as they
remembered them, if occasion-
ally roseate and sometimes un-
comfortable, too.
Charles Hayes was the ex-colo-
nial government officer who sold
the weekly Taifa to the Nation,
thus starting the company down
the publishing road, and became
Hongera
HomelandFreightLtd
International Freight Forwarders & Shipping Agents
Tel : 254 6537735/6537785
Email: homeland@wananchi.com
Congratulate
The Nation Media Group
on their 50th Anniversary.
We are proud to be associated
with you.
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
the group’s first editorial director.
I found him in British Columbia,
Canada, where he had edited his
own local paper for many years
along with his wife, Margaret,
a one-time Nation stringer in
Nakuru and a Kenya memoirist
in her own right.
Hayes had owned Taifa jointly
with Althea Tebbutt, who became
the Nation’s first advertising
manager. She lived in New Zea-
land, but I caught up with her on
a visit back to Britain.
I renewed contacts with Errol
Trzebinski, one of Mrs Tebbutt’s
original sales team. Still resident
in Kenya, she was by then an in-
ternational figure known for her
writings on colonial-era person-
alities like Denys Finch Hatton,
Karen Blixen, Beryl Markham
and Lord Erroll. Her book, Si-
lence Will Speak, was the prime
source for the Oscar-winning
film, Out of Africa. She lives in a
gracious 18th century house on
the island of Lamu.
The first managing director,
Frank Pattrick, had died in South
Africa when my search began,
but his successor, Stan Denman,
lived in Dorset and invited me
over. The hunt for journalists
and managers, both with the Na-
tion and opposition media, took
me to Geneva and Schonried in
Switzerland, Galway and Dub-
 DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
to matu≥ity
lin in Ireland, Dubai, Italy, Aus-
tralia, and in Britain to London,
Cheltenham, Stowmarket, Dover,
Newcastle upon Tyne, Nelson
Colne, Brighton, Bideford and
Devizes.
Recollections arrived by mail
and email from Australia, New
Zealand, Zimbabwe and South
Africa and many interviews
were concluded during return
visits to Nairobi. There, Nation
officers opened the company’s
books to me freely and without
restriction.
The greatest prize, however,
a treasure trove of information,
was made available by Michael
Curtis, effectively architect and
builder of the whole venture. At
34, Michael had been one of Fleet
Street’s youngest editors, piloting
the News Chronicle through dif-
ficult times. But he disagreed
with the owners’ militantly pro-
government stance over Britain’s
invasion of Suez and resigned on
principle.
Joining the Aga Khan as a Press
advisor (and much more) shortly
after the young prince succeeded
his grandfather, Curtis accompa-
nied him on a world tour of his
Ismaili community. Confronted
with the self-serving and tenden-
tious nature of the colonial-era
media, the Aga Khan conceived
a vision of an independent Kenya
RECOLLECTIONS
Keeping the author on the right lines
By GERRY LOUGHRAN
A
major fear for authors
writing on historical
events is of going astray
on subjects outside of their ex-
pertise. Writing most areas of
the group’s history, “Birth of a
Nation,” I felt confident and se-
cure because I knew journalism,
I knew East Africa and I knew
the Nation group. And where I
was unsure, there were sources
aplenty to confirm or correct the
facts.
But in arcane matters of nuance,
personal history and the effect
of public affairs on private lives,
I quickly decided I would need
guidance and, happily, I was rec-
ommended to a retired Kenyan
advocate, Mr Anil Ishani. I quick-
ly realized I could have found no
keener or subtler mind to assist
in my work.
Anil qualified as a barrister in
newspaper which would be open
to all races, honest and objec-
tive, and dogged in the pursuit of
truth. It was Michael Curtis who,
in 1959, began to turn this dream
into reality.
As chief executive, he piloted
the organisation through its test-
ing first decade before he relo-
cated to France to assist the Aga
Khan in a variety of his other in-
terests. Even then, as a long-time
Nation board member, he main-
tained meticulous files, gold to
any prospector.
Invited to stay at his lovely
country house near historic Sen-
lis, I spent endless hours perus-
ing minutes, memos, notes and
directives about the problems
and triumphs of the early years,
along with hundreds of letters,
telegrams, faxes and old-style
“dictabelts” (a distant ancestor
of the audio tape) which were
exchanged between Michael
and the Aga Khan. This infor-
mation was supported by files
at the Aga Khan’s secretariat at
nearby Aiglemont and generous
assistance from Gerry Wilkinson,
a former managing director who,
with almost four decades under
his belt dating back to 1971, was
the company’s longest serving
director.
Very few ex-Nation people de-
clined to talk to me, even those
London in 1959, spent several
years back in Kenya with the
family firm, Ishani and Ishani
Advocates, returned to the UK
in 1972, qualifying as a solicitor
with a city firm of solicitors, and
became a specialist in commer-
cial property matters.
At the same time, he enjoyed the
confidence of the founder and
begetter of the Nation group, His
Highness the Aga Khan, and held
a variety of leadership positions
in the Ismaili community. Mak-
ing his home back in Kenya, from
1997 until retirement in 2007,
he was Resident Representative
of the Aga Khan Development
Network.
Having served the Aga Khan for
48 years, his guidance was cer-
tain and assured.
I have stated elsewhere that I
wrote “Birth of a Nation” with-
out direction or restriction and
this is true. But as a rally driver
whose memories were not entire-
ly positive, though a handful did
not respond. Many more politi-
cians did not grace my requests
with a reply.
Doing the interviews was
mostly a personal pleasure. Not
only did I meet up with many old
friends, but I made the acquaint-
ance of others of whom I had
heard a great deal but never met.
This is an attempt to render in coherent and sympathetic form
the story of a young newspaper struggling to report honestly and
accurately on the convulsions, successes and failures of an equally
young nation
depends on his co-pilot, so I
needed Anil’s assistance in navi-
gating esoteric areas beyond
my ken.
It worked like this: Anil would
take away a draft of relevant
chapters, peruse them in his
meticulous and lawyerly way,
then return and set out his argu-
ments for change, rephrasing,
removal or retention. Some-
times I had simply got my facts
wrong – titles, dates, forms of
address; in other areas, he might
support the facts but question
my interpretation or use of lan-
guage.
For instance, though I knew
Kenya, I had not worked there
for some years, whereas he had.
Gently, he questioned whether
my indignation over perceived
injustices by officialdom was not
more of an outsider’s point of
view, a failure to acknowledge
success in the face of huge dif-
50 GOLDEN YEARS IX
Mostly the sessions lasted a cou-
ple of hours, with the interview-
ee talking into my tape recorder.
But for some key people, we held
several meetings over a number
of days.
I always transcribed the tapes
in full, though perhaps as little as
five per cent might be used. I felt
it necessary to get a feel for the
conditions of the time and if the
ficulties and to give credit where
it was due. In most cases, I have
to confess, his judiciousness
brought balance to the page,
substituting calm level-headed-
ness for unbridled rhetoric.
It was not without apprehension
at our several meetings that
I glanced at the many yellow
stickers jutting from his draft
copy.
But happily these were not
always queries of fact or inter-
The first edi-
torial cartoon
in
1960.
subject wandered off topic, that
was fine. How accurate were the
recollections? I like to think they
were very close to total truth.
When possible, I asked other
interviewees identical questions
and vague memories of dates and
times could often be checked in
the Nation’s own back copies.
Written information piled up
inexorably and I ended up with
pretation but often reminders of Nation
supplementary evidence or addi- newsroom
tional arguments on a question on Tom
under discussion. Mboya
Anil was by no means the only Street.
outside source I resorted to in
my research for “Birth of a Na-
tion,” but it is fair to say that
without the depth and breadth
of his knowledge and the accu-
racy of his perceptions, the book
would have been a distinctly
lesser achievement.
 X | 50 GOLDEN YEARS DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010

1965 - 1968 & 1972 - 1977

1968 - 1972
1964 - 1965

1978 - 1981
Hilary Ng’weno George Githii Boaz Omori Joe Rodrigues
The first Kenyan editor, appointed The Stormy Petrel of Nation newspa- A steady, quiet, knowledgeable and Acclaimed by many of his staff as the best
when the Nation was little more than pers, he campaigned courageously stabilising editor who took the first hands-on editor the Nation ever had, he
three years old, changed the newspa- against corruption and denounced steps to introducing a code of practice could report stories, correct copy, write
per’s Eurocentric approach to inter- moves to bring in preventive deten- for journalists. His contacts were wide, editorials and lay out pages, all apparently
national news coverage and ensured tion, but his erratic decisions on some his political antennae impeccable and at the same time. He led the news opera-
it reflected the African political and political issues embarrassed the com- his early death was widely mourned tion at a difficult time, even spending
economic concerns. pany, leading to his departure. inside and outside the industry. time in custody.

The Nation editors I have

1981- 1983
known, from 1964 to 2009
By PHILIP OCHIENG George was fond of transferring My articles were then locked Knowledge of my “canned” ar-
into his articles material from a up in a safe where they under- ticles may have had something

A
lthough George Githii
and I later clashed se-
riously, I am always
grateful to him for
opening the gate of journalism
to me. It was Githii, editor-in-
chief of the Nation, and Michael
Curtis, managing director, who
offered me my first job as a re-
porter.
George was also the most
remarkable editor I have ever
served under. Other editorial
pontiffs I have worked with in
Kenya include Hilary Ng’weno,
Boaz Omori, Joe Rodrigues, Peter
Mwaura, George Mbugguss and
Wangethi Mwangi.
George locked me in a room where I
spent many long weeks studying, mak-
ing phone calls and then writing numer-
ous lengthy biographical stories on the
grand old man
George was clearly the most
controversial. Paradoxically, the
man who looked like Kenya’s
most independent-minded edi-
book he had just read to help him
floor his interlocutors. Moreover,
his newspaper had a predilection
for pursuing to their ends certain
burning social issues of the day.
I have never seen his equal
in the practice of taking a hot
topic and charging his investiga-
tive reporters to dig down to the
taproots.
One day in 1967, after furnish-
ing me with all kinds of literature
on Jomo Kenyatta, George locked
me in a room where I spent many
long weeks studying, making
phone calls and then writing nu-
merous lengthy biographical sto-
ries on the Grand Old Man.
The editor never told me why
such obituary-focussed writing
was necessary. For the President
looked perfectly hale and hearty.
went the “criticism” of time for
a whole 10 years. It was not until
1978 – when the President did
die (and long after Githii had left
Nation House) – that my articles
were retrieved. They were what
chief sub-editor John McHaf-
fie splashed all over the place
(minus my byline) on that fate-
ful day.
Unwittingly, my efforts may
well have contributed to George’s
departure from the Nation. Some
Kenyatta sycophants – perhaps
allied to Dr Njoroge Mungai
– had heard of them and told the
Old Man that George Githii had
been “scheming” his death. Mun-
gai’s partisans had a good reason
for hating Githii.
It stemmed from the extreme
one-sidedness with which his
newspaper reported a perenni-
al rivalry between Mungai and
Charles Njonjo, the Attorney-
General, sometimes known as
“Sir Charles.”
The intriguing thing about it
was that Githii, Njonjo, Mun-
gai and Kenyatta came from the
same political parish in Kiambu
to do with George being arrested Peter Mwaura
and held one day. Perceptive, socially conscious and aca-
But only Githii could have been demically gifted, he assumed the editor-
intrepid enough to sue Bernard ship at a difficult time. State authorities
Hinga, the police commissioner, had the Nation group in its sights and
for “wrongful confinement.” The there were changes at executive manage-
court proceedings must have ment level. He resigned in 1983.
been embarrassing to the gov-
ernment. Although the case was
withdrawn, only Mzee Kenyatta
could have ordered Githii to
pack it in.
1983 - 1991
However, the most probable
immediate cause of George’s de-
parture from Nation House was
that he had been writing and
publishing some embarrassingly
adventurous, one-sided, almost
hysterical articles and editori-
als on such controversies as Is-
rael, the Soviet Union, Shah Reza
Pahlavi’s Iran and the leader of George Mbugguss
the Bohra community. One of the Nation’s pioneers, he rose
Much cooler headed and hard- from Taifa reporter to Taifa editor and
nosed was Hilary Ng’weno, the steered the Kiswahili daily along a steady
Nation’s first indigenous editor- path, fully earning his promotion to the
in-chief . It appears that Hilary new position of Group Managing Editor.
and the Aga Khan had been at He held the job successfully until his re-
Harvard together. Hilary might tirement in 1991.
have impressed the future Is-
maili chief through a series of cy-
1991 - 2009

tor was also its most one-sided.
Yet I admired George for three
reasons. One was that he never
allowed any of the (expatriate)
non-editorial managers “up-
stairs” to bend his editorial line.
Second, he took the trouble to
reply personally and under his
own by-line to criticisms of both
the newspaper and the Kenyatta
government. One still remem-
bers strongly worded polemics
against Jaramogi Odinga, Bil-
dad Kaggia and Darius Msaga
Mbela.
Later -- as a graduate of
England’s Oxford University --
But George was linked through
many tendrils to the Old Man’s
closest aides and when he gave
me the assignment he knew that
Mzee had collapsed in Mombasa
and was then unconscious, per-
haps indeed dead.
President Kenyatta did later
regain consciousness but editor
Githii had learned an important
lesson. Such an eventuality must
never again catch his newspa-
pers unprepared, with empty
files. Which is why I pursued this
assignment for weeks, entirely
in the dark about what had hap-
pened.
District. Before joining the Na-
tion, George had been Kenyat-
ta’s private secretary. Did Githii
know something between Njonjo
and Mungai which the editor was
not sharing with his readers?
But the point is that, while
Njonjo was invariably reported
in the most brilliant light, what
the public read about Mungai
was certainly not. That was the
problem. Although an editor has
the right to take sides on any
issue, he is professionally called
upon to back up his position with
correct facts, accurate figures and
cogent argument.
clostyled newsletters to all Afri-
can students in the United States.
At any rate, the Aga Khan’s new
newspaper in Nairobi latched
onto a man still only in his twen-
ties when he returned to Kenya
in 1964. But, by the time I joined
Nation House in 1966, Hilary had
resigned to return to Harvard for
courses in filming and interna-
tional affairs (where, he once told Wangethi Mwangi
me, Henry Kissinger was one of Mwangi succeeded Mbugguss and
his lecturers). steered the papers through political
Ten years later, however – after turbulence and an era of technological
he came back from Cambridge, revolution. He was appointed Editorial
Director until his retirement and replace-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 37 ment by Joseph Odindo.
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
Going places and making
the right connections
By JOHN FOX
F
reda, the taxi driver, picked
me up to take me to the air-
port.
‘So where are you going this
time, Mr John?’ she asked.
‘Vietnam,’ I replied.
‘Oh, so you are going to the
war!’ she said.
And that was the starter for
my piece on that trip. Especial-
ly when, while I was in Hanoi
that time, an article appeared
in the local paper claiming that
Vietnam had become the safest
tourist destination in the whole
world. There was the connection
I was looking for.
I’m a very lucky guy. Over the
last 24 years, my consultancy job
has taken me to Asia, to many
countries in Africa – and to every
district in Kenya. When I am not
travelling I can always find a new
restaurant, an art exhibition, or
an event in Nairobi like the Con-
cours d’Elegance or the Shaggy
Dog Show to write about.
But when I’m writing about
somewhere outside Kenya, the
challenge is how to make it rel-
evant to Kenyan readers. Some-
how, there has to be a reference
back to home. Just as Freda said.
It was back in the late 1980s
that George Mbugguss, then the
Nation’s Group Managing Edi-
tor, encouraged me to write for
the paper. One of the most mem-
orable, interviews was with Mr
Kenneth Matiba about his plans
to climb Mount Everest.
Matiba put his love of moun-
tains down to his Outward Bound
When I am not
travelling, I
write on sub-
jects such as
the Concours
d’Elegance.
JOAN PERERUAN
climb on Mount Kilimanjaro
when he was an Alliance High
schoolboy. He also told me about
the character assessment given
by the expedition leader:
“Kenneth, you are a very strong
boy. You were the first to the sum-
mit. Well done! But there is one
criticism I have to make – you for-
got about all those weaker breth-
ren struggling up behind you.”
“That was so true,” Matiba said.
“And it is still so true. These days
when I am discussing with my
colleagues, I am thinking, plan-
ning – and I realise that they are
struggling up miles behind me…”
At the time, he was a member of
President Moi’s Cabinet.
I was told that, in the months
leading up to the first multi-party
elections, at an editors’ meeting,
George suggested that I should
be asked to write some ‘colour
pieces’ about the campaigns.
‘But George,’ someone said, ‘I
think John would prefer to keep
his work permit.’
But George did inveigle me
into writing about the Safari
Rally – despite my protestations
that I knew nothing about rally-
ing. Less than a year later, I was
amused to see in the by-line of an
Indian newspaper that had re-
printed one of my Safari stories
that I was ‘East Africa’s motor
sports expert’.
My first Going Places pieces were describing a hotel
in terms of its facilities, prices and how to get there.
Until I got a different kind of encouragement from
Bernard Nderitu, then the Editor of the Sunday
Nation
Nevertheless, when George
offered me the choice of being
the Motoring or Travel Corre-
spondent for the Sunday Nation
I quickly deferred to Gavin Ben-
nett’s much greater knowledge
– and wit – about cars.
My first Going Places pieces
were describing a hotel in terms
of its facilities, prices and how to
get there. Until I got a different
kind of encouragement from Ber-
nard Nderitu, then the Editor of
the Sunday Nation.
One evening, when I was sit-
ting having a beer on the terrace
of the Castle Hotel in down-town
Mombasa, I saw this girl. She was
wearing a black buibui. She was
walking up and down the pave-
ment outside the terrace. I was
watching her and wondering
what she was doing – until a car
drew up, the window was wound
down, and the girl leaned inside
to negotiate terms.
That was the encounter around
which I made an impressionistic
piece about how it was to be sit-
ting on the terrace of the Castle
Hotel and watching the after
dark life of Mombasa’s Moi Av-
enue.
‘I like that,’ Bernard Nderitu
said. ‘That’s how Going Places
should be.’ And that’s the advice
I’ve tried to follow for all of twen-
ty something years.
50 GOLDEN YEARS XI
REFLECTIONS
Pride of place on
the world stage
T
he Nation was
founded by His
Highness the Aga
Khan as a voice for
the majority of Kenyans who
clamoured for independence.
After Uhuru, the Nation be-
came an effective voice of the
people. I must pay tribute to
the founder, and equally im-
portant to successive man-
agements for steering the
company to become the un-
disputed media organization
in East Africa.
Indeed, the story of the Na-
tion has become synonymous
with the story of Kenya being
agemates as Kenya attained
independence three years
after our first newspaper
rolled of the presses.
Today, though media free-
dom is perennially under
threat, the situation is much
better than it was in the six-
ties, and certainly better than
most African countries. As we
celebrate 50 years, the biggest
factor in the Nations success
is that the founders were gen-
uine in their desire to have
an independent media group.
Over the years, the group has
established and maintained
very high ethical and govern-
ance standards. As we march
into the future, one promise I
would like to make on behalf
of all staff of the company is
that we shall stay true to our
founding mission of public
service journalism, and en-
sure that those who will be
managing the cerebrations 50
years from now, will have an
even better story.
To do this, we shall contin-
ue to live by our core values
of integrity, transparency and
balance in our reporting and
ensure that the Nation Media
Group will remain core to
positively transforming the
Africa society to take its pride
of place in the world stage on
social, economic and politi-
cal areas.
To achieve this, we shall
continue to rely on the dedi-
cation and commitment of
our staff that I take this op-
portunity to salute. The same
goes for past members of staff
who remain extended mem-
bers of the NMG family.
As we match forth to real-
ize our dream of being the
media of Africa for Africa, we
shall remain focused on what
is important for Africa. It is
with this in mind that as part
of our cerebrations, we de-
cided to sponsor and host the
Pan Africa Media Conference
so that we could get the mem-
bers of the fourth estate in
one room and reflect on our
past performance even as we
make promises for the future.
I would hope that this could
become a regular initiative
around Africa.
This future will however
not be handed to any media
on a silver platter. The media
landscape is changing rap-
idly and it is only those who
evolve faster than the change
who will succeed. To this end,
we shall continue to evalu-
ate our traditional media
platforms and ensure they
remain relevant to an even
more demanding needs of our
readers and readers even as
we invest aggressively in new
media and new geographies.
Finally I would like to
thank everyone who has
helped Nation Media Group
to be what it is today.
Asanteni Sana!
XII | 50 GOLDEN YEARS DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010

REFLECTIONS THE MEN WHO MAKE IT HAPPEN

Meet the editors

of Nation papers
MUTUMA MATHIU
Managing Editor
Daily Nation
I have edited many newspa-
pers; none is like the Daily Na-
tion. We do it with a fine blend
of love and violence. Love be-
cause this newspaper is our life,
our life’s work. Mario Garcia,
the newspaper designer, told us
once that modern editors are
just undertakers, washing and
preparing for burial the bodies
of their dead newspapers. But
we are not. We are guardians,
custodians of great institutions.
The Daily Nation will be there
for many years to come, we shall
hand it over to the next genera-
tion, and the one after, in good
shape.
Violence because we are such
a brutally efficient news opera-
tion. Our capacity to mobilize
coverage of a breaking story,
even for those of us who have
done it many times, is a marve-
lous spectacle. I only wish we
could work with the same ef-
ficiency in covering the small
story.
I edited my first newspaper, a
now-dead periodical called the
Nairobi Law Monthly, when I
was all of 25 years old. That, and
many other newspapers that I
have seen since, lacked the Na-
tion’s clarity of values. When I
am confronted with a big news
decision, there is never an iota
of conflict in my soul, what my
duty is, what the Daily Nation
stands for, what I should do.
The Daily Nation stands for
the truth. Our methods might
not always be efficient and our
findings might not always be ac-
curate. But there is no conflict,
at all, about our purpose and
motivation.
The Daily Nation stands with

JAINDI KISERO ERIC OBINO NICK WACHIRA*

Nicholas Muema
Managing Editor
Taifa Leo
As the Managing Editor of Taifa,
my main task is to select suit-
able content for publication
and determine the best ways of
projecting it in the paper so as
to meet circulation targets. It is
also my duty to ensure that the
paper is consistent in quality
and tone, and is consistent with
the company’s editorial policy.
I was appointed early last year
at a time when there was a
steady decline in circulation of
Taifa, hence the main task has
been to reverse the trend. The
figures have improved and sta-
bilized.
For the period I have worked in
this position, it has been a daily
challenge to go to press without
either affecting one’s temper.
However, the challenges at-
tached to this position give me
job satisfaction and justify my
pay at the end of the month.
Julius Maina
Managing Editor
Saturday Nation
It’s just over a year since I took
over as editor of the Saturday
Nation. It was not long before I
realized that Saturday Nation’s
main challenge was – and to
some extent remains – to pack
a bigger punch than just the
ground-breaking and highly
successful Saturday Magazine
insert. The magazine is still a big
pull but many will agree that the
Saturday Nation is also much
more these days – readers have
come to expect much more from
us after a series of major peo-
ple stories and indepth special
reports. The most memorable
perhaps is the special pullout
on the 40th anniversary of Tom
Mboya’s assassination last July.
Thanks to great team work, we
covered an “old story” with re-
freshing new facts. The results:
A well-received newspaper and
even higher expectations.
Managing Editor Investiga-
tions and Economic affairs.
My job involves investigating
and developing mostly business,
economic, enterprise issue-ori-
ented stories. As a managing
editor, I get to oversee those sto-
ries as well as writing opinion
pieces. The biggest challenge is
lack of space for the stories. It’s
harder to sell a business story,
but it is certainly better now
than a few years back.
The fact that we even have a
full business publication on a
daily basis, is a great achieve-
ment for the group.
In the investigative reporting
that I do, you get to rub a lot of
people the wrong way. Stepping
on a few toes is part of the job
really.
In this business, some of your
best sources end up being dis-
gruntled contractors who when
denied a tender, manage to find
information that leads you to
something.
Managing Editor
Sunday Nation
Sunday Nation is Nation’s high-
est circulation Newspaper and
has been for a while. Taking
up this position, as the paper’s
managing editor comes with a
lot of expectation; my own ex-
pectation to keep the product
at its best and also that of the
team.
Sunday Nation has over the
years thrived on analyses on
the week’s stories and one of
the challenges is that an issue
deserving to be the main story
could be preempted by the other
publications on the market.
The task is to second-guess
the other publications on their
angle.
The best feeling for me is driv-
ing on the way to church and
see people with a copy, or to find
people discussing the news and
telling each other,” Its in today’s
Sunday Nation.” It is quite a feel-
ing.
Managing Editor,
The East African
The East African targets a re-
gional readership with a more
sophisticated taste in news that
cuts across the boarders and
as a publication we are able to
capture activity in the various
sectors and their implications.
It’s the first paper presidents in
the region would go for to get all
they need to know about what
is happening or going to hap-
pen. Business can pick it up and
be advised on whether to set
up shop in the region because
we give you the information
you need to know. To capture
the vast readership in different
culture zones, The EastAfrican
has to find a common ground
that would interest its target in
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and
even Rwanda.
The challenge has however
been to find a team from all the
represented countries but the
progress made so far is good.
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010 50 GOLDEN YEARS XIII

DESIGN FROM CONCEPTION TO MATURITY 2000s

Lou Silverstein

RED MEAT CAU

New survey say SES ANCER
s it also leads to
C , SAYS STUDY
heart diseases
and premature dea
ths.

1990s
BACK PAGE

1970s-1980s Jeannette
∆

www. nation .co.ke

NAI ROB I, WED

Allen Armstrong
NES DAY, APR

Collins ON OTHER IL 1, 200 9 No. 16116

KSh35/00 (TSh8
00/00
PAGES : USh1,500/00)

Land of the dyin 2000s

FA MI NE
AKINYI IS BACK:
FIGHTING AND

g
KICKING AWAY

1960s John Bierman She announces her

return with dramatic
In Kajiado, a cow
sel
water wars and ls for a paltry Sh300. In Ijara,
in Baringo peop
le live on wild
there are
Palmer
Watson
confrontation with berries
Chinedu. PAGE 3

THE HAGUE VOWS

Changing face of a friend

TO ACT SWIFTLY
Special advisor
to
chief prosecutor
warns that they
are ready to mov
e
in immediately.
PAGE 4

KENYA BEGINS
CRICKET CONTEST
Tikolo to A pictorial mis
sion to
lead team little explored
poc
in race drought-striken kets of
for 2010 Kenya,
World Cup. place of hopele
ssn
PAGE 59
misery and dea ess,
th
land that has cea — a
By FRANK WHALLEY of youth: friendly, urgent and the Nation proud, swapping stein, sed to
To comment on
these

support life
and other stories
in the
Daily Nation go
to:
www.nation.co.ke
Pages 14,15&16
brash. the loud Futura and Gill Sans who
Ms Adey Sugal,

A
relief food at a 70, waits for
point in Athey distribution
NEWS 2-9, 31-35, ley
Garissa Distric in Dujis,
BACK | OPINION t on Sunday.
10-11 | LETTERS 12 | INTE
Photos/WILLIAM
OERI

S THE FACE OF A Its name was reversed in Ital- headline typefaces for the more had Pay your Ele
RNATIONAL
18-23 | BUSIN
ESS 24-30 |
SPORT 59-63
ctricity Bill
GOOD friend alters ic capitals on the top left of the upmarket serif face of Century r e - ATM, Point at any Equit
of Sale, or ou
r Ea
y Bank Branc
h,
Mobile Bank zzy 24/7
over the years, so has front page with the space next to Schoolbook. ing Service.

the face of the Na-
tion changed. But like that same
friend, it has remained recognis-
able, wearing a warm smile that
makes it a welcome guest in so
many households.
The key has been to ensure
that the newspaper’s appearance
signals the quality of its content.
Several factors govern that.
First is the paper’s position in
the market: a paper for the work-
ing man or woman, a paper for
top decision makers, or a paper
for the family?
Another factor is size -- tradi-
tionally broadsheet for upmarket
and tabloid for racier stories and
faster consumption -- although
now boundaries have blurred,
with upmarket tabloids and the
occasional middle or downmar-
ket broadsheet.
Yet another factor is the choice
of typefaces. That used to be easy:
tabloid and downmarket meant
chunky sans faces, broadsheet
and upmarket meant elegant
serif. That, too, has changed.
Now the best guide to market
position is story angle (people
or issues) and the degree of pro-
jection.
The very first Nation pub-
lished on March 30, 1960, was
unashamedly tabloid, the face
it, known as the earpiece, used for
boxed reports, as the paper’s first
editor, former Fleet Street staffer
and later award-winning BBC TV
reporter John Bierman, adapted
what was known as freestyle de-
sign with dazzling effect.
Freestyle presents stories as
pieces of a jigsaw, offering a strict
hierarchy on each page with the
text interlocking, and leading the
eye from one report to the next.
Bierman’s design, revolution-
ary in East Africa, was a winner.
One innovation was a cartoon on
the leader page (Page 4 in those
days) with the paper’s opinion,
the leader or editorial, boxed
beneath.
The Nation retained the Bier-
man look when in October of
1960 the Sunday paper was
joined by the Daily Nation, the
masthead initially stacked in two
lines still within the seal.
Eventually the name of the
paper became one line, still as a
reverse and it remained that way
until the first major revamp of
the design, which came in 1978.
The brief to produce a new
look for the Daily Nation, more
in keeping with the emergence
of an African middle class , fell
in 1978 to Allen Armstrong, the
paper’s chief sub editor. He did
The masthead changed as well,
to Clarendon, no longer reversed
and with what became the trade-
mark style of having the word
Daily in upper and lower case
(like this text) lined up with the
top of the much larger word NA-
TION in capital letters.
It was a brilliant mix, and the
British trade paper for journal-
ists, the UK Press Gazette, was
quick to admire it, commenting:
“It is an offset litho sheet which
for clarity, colour and crispness
surpasses many of our own offset
publications.” It was the friendly
face of a friend who was begin-
ning to mature.
The next main change came
from British designer, Jeannette
Collins, whokept the main faces,
tightening the Clarendon mast-
head and increasing the size of
the word Daily. A new slogan
was introduced: The newspaper
that serves the nation.
The main change was to make
the pages modular, a style in
which all the headlines, pictures
and text of one story are con-
tained within rectangles which
sit alongside or above and below
each other.
The Collins revamp stayed valid
until 2001, when the vastly expe-
rienced American, Lou Silver-
shaped the New York
Times, took things in hand. lasted four years, until 2006
The Silverstein look was when, faced by rapidly updated
launched on June 30, 2001. The opposition newspapers, another
main headline face harped back redesign was needed.
to Armstrong’s design with a ver- This time the experts were the
sion of Century, this time ITC Scottish firm of Palmer Watson,
Century, squeezed to 70 per cent a new but respected team that
of its normal width to give, as Sil- went on to redesign Le Monde
verstein said, “more pep.” among many other famous ti-
The titlepiece was, important- tles.
ly, still Clarendon although the Ally Palmer and Terry Watson
word Daily became even larger took the paper further upmar-
and now sat on the bottom of ket, dramatically widening the
the line next to NATION, still distance in quality between the
in caps. Nations and any opposition.
There were further (and con- Today’s paper might not imme-
troversial) changes to the mast- diately look like the edtion that
head in the Saturday Nation and launched a legend back in March
the Sunday Nation, where the ti- 1960, but the family resemblance
tles were double-decked with Sat- is still strong.
urday and Sunday on top .
This was a friendly face with Frank Whalley is a former Na-
the self-confident smile of suc- tion training editor, resident in
cessful middle age. Nairobi and specialising in re-
Silverstein’s look for the Nation porting on the fine arts.
It was a brilliant mix, and the British trade
paper for journalists, the UK Press Gazette,
was quick to admire it, commenting: “It is an
offset litho sheet which for clarity, colour and
crispness surpasses many of our own offset
publications
XIV | 50 GOLDEN YEARS DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010

HUMOUR

The man who made the nation laugh

By GAKIHA WERU Mutahi’s
satire was
Sometime at the beginning of unforgiving,
the 1980s, a master’s degree and his fam-
student at the University of ily was the
Nairobi saw an advertisement in cast in his
Nation Newspapers, announc- column.
ing vacancies for sub-editors. NMG ARCHIVES

He applied and was hired. “I

was under the impression that
a sub-editor was a pretty senior
fellow. I was terribly mistaken,’’
the student recalled years later.
The student was the late Wa-
home Mutahi. Over the next
two decades he was to tantalise
readers with a rare and unique
brand of humour.
Through his column, “Whis-
pers,” Mutahi became an inte-
gral part of the Nation stable
and the Sunday Nation was
incomplete without an article
from “the son of the soil.”
So huge was his following
that when Mutahi left to join
the competition, he was hired
right back, the company hav-
ing found that when he moved
house, thousands of readers
moved with him.
His satire was unforgiving
and his family members were
permanent caricatures in his
column. There was his mother,
Appep, his wife, Thatcher, Whiz
Junior aka the domestic thug
and daughters Pajero and the
Investiment.
So much was his family part of
his satire, his wife Ricarda Njoki
recalled later, that at Murang’a
district hospital where she
worked, few people knew her
real name. They all called her
Thatcher.
Mutahi laughed at himself, at
those around him and at society
in general. In turn, Sunday Na-
tion readers laughed with him
and loved him too, “I can laugh
at anything with the exception
of God and disability,” he once
said.
His satire and did not the spare
the political class either. Using
analogies, former President Moi
became the “main headmaster.”
Mutahi’s pen was at its sharp-
est at a time when the Moi
regime could not countenance
any form of criticism. It was
therefore not entirely surprising
when Mutahi was arrested and
jailed on trumped up charges
in 1986.
He was banging away on his
typewriter at old Nation House
in Tom Mboya Street when the
Special Branch officers walked
in and demanded to see him.
After a brief chat at reception,
he went back to his desk and
collected his jacket. Out in the
street he was surrounded by
other officers and led away and
nobody knew his whereabouts
for days on end.
Like many other people who
were jailed for sedition at that
time, Mutahi was to appear in
court one day late in the after-
noon. With him was his young
brother, Njuguna Mutahi. As
everybody did in those days,
they pleaded guilty to charges
of sedition.
It was common knowledge
that people who admitted such
charges had pleas of guilty
beaten out them at Nyayo
House. Mutahi’s book, Three
Days On The Cross, tells of his
experience at the hands of his
torturers.
Mutahi was a top feature writer
who inspired scores of journal-
ist and personally mentored
many of them including this
writer.
He was also a great thespian
and playwright. He penned
many plays, among them Mu-
gathe Mbogothi and Ngoma Cia
Aka. He also has several books
to his name.
When Mutahi died in July 2003,
the country was stunned. It was
only then that it became clear
that through his column, he had
touched a generation in a very
special way.
His death, too, was tragic. He
had gone on March 7 to Thika
District hospital for what
was to be a minor operation.
Something went terribly wrong
and Mutahi went into a coma
from which he never woke up.
He died three months later at
Kenyatta National Hospital.

The Sunday paper seduced readers

The Aga
Khan, on a CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6
1961 visit to
Nation House, askance at The Nation’s politics,
discusses they were quickly seduced by its
news issues energy, liveliness and humour
with the Edi- and the fresh and aggressive
torial team. approach it demonstrated to-
wards reporting public affairs.
The March 20 launch issue sold
17,500 copies and quickly the fig-
ure soared to 24,000, reaching
30,000-plus in August.
This dizzying success owed
much to coups such as a world
exclusive in June, headlined,
“The old man who waits at Lod-
war.” This was a spread of pho-
tographs of Jomo Kenyatta, the
man the colonial government
vainly hoped had been forgotten,
then in detention in the North-
ern Frontier town of that name.
“He digs his arid little garden,” a
with its verve, but the daily limped
caption said, “he lounges with his
books and newspapers, listens to
the ever-present radio – and
waits for the day of his return.”
The coverage electrified Africans,
angered the colonial government
and infuriated many settlers who
blamed Kenyatta for the activi-
ties of the Mau Mau.
Exacerbating national resent-
ments at the time was a wide-
spread drought. The Nation re-
ported in July of 1960 that scores
of cattle had died and the maize
crop had failed. Farmers sold
their stock at giveaway prices or
paid 50 per cent more for feeding
barley. Said one ruined Rift Val-
ley farmer, “If you listen to some
of the African politicians, every
European farmer is sitting on
the verandah drinking whisky.
If we are not brutal, we are rich.
Tell them to come out here and
have a look.” It was not difficult
for the ill-intentioned to descry
a racial angle in the most mun-
dane of happenings and report-
ers were warned to be vigilant in
their choice of words and use of
phraseology. But one event, all
but forgotten now though with
international dimensions at the
time, was unavoidably race-cen-
tred. This was the case of British-
born Peter Poole, a 28-year-old
engineer, sentenced to death for
shooting dead his African house
servant, Kamawe Musunge.
His defence argued that Poole’s
wife and two children had been
stoned by a group of Africans and
he shot Musunge after the Afri-
can threw stones at Poole’s dogs.
An appeal was rejected by
the Privy Concil in London and
a plea for clemency was turned
down by Kenya’s Governor,
Sir Patrick Renison. Poole was
hanged on August 8, 1960, the
only white man executed in colo-
nial Kenya for killing an African.
The Nation denounced sugges-
tions that Poole’s execution was
“appeasement towards African
nationalist opinion.” It declared
in an editorial: “British law holds
rightly that the value of a white
man’s life is no more than that
of a black man. In this respect,
the forces of law and order have
acted with impartiality.”
If conditions within the East
African nations were superficial-
ly peaceful, underlying tensions
were constantly fuelled by tur-
moil beyond their frontiers. Inde-
pendence in the former Belgian
Congo was followed immediately
by rioting, looting, mutiny, rape
CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010 50 GOLDEN YEARS XV
XVI | 50 GOLDEN YEARS DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010

REFLECTIONS MOTORING IN AN ERA GONE BY

Driving into a past of empty

streets . . . and no matatus
By GAVIN BENNETT rather than just being hoped for). chrome plated, with over-riders
But beyond the most obvious (and badges), the number plates,

F
ew things in life evoke past
eras quite so precisely and
powerfully as the car. The
imagery is so strong and clear
that movie makers can locate
their audience in time and place
long-distance observations…
There would be no SUV’s, no
hatchbacks, and almost no pick-
ups or matatus. The only 4WD
would be a Series II Land-Rover,
with its headlights still mounted
fore and aft, were black with sil-
ver-grey lettering (mostly start-
ing in the KC-KF range). Many
would have roofracks, sun visors
and mascots. The latest fad was a
little perspex gizmo mounted on

Why our newspapers are with a single shot of cars on a

street.
So what would strike us most
in the radiator grille (not out on
the wings). The biggest trucks
would be what we now call 7-ton-
the front of the bonnet, billed as
a “fly deflector.”
To get in, each door would have

taking on a different role — carwise — if we watched a film

Mr Joseph Odindo,
Editorial Director Nation
Media Group
cast stations in Uganda and
Tanzania and might soon
venture into Rwanda.
In half a century of writing
clip of Nairobi on the day the
ners. And in these and any other
classes, there would not be a sin-
to be unlocked individually, and
once inside even the plushest
1960s vehi- first copies of the Nation came gle vehicle from Japan (where models would seem Spartan. No
cles cruised rattling off the presses in 1960? today 80 per cent of our road-fill seatbelts at all. Radios were op-
on almost It would be a cine film of course. comes from). tional extras. All windows were
empty streets Video bado. Zoom in a little closer and there wound by hand.
between low Obviously, all the vehicles would be more to surprise today’s There were no buttons and ials

F
or 50 years Nation
newspapers have
striven to uphold the
promise of that very
first issue - to become the
most reliable source of accu-
rate news and essential infor-
mation in the region.
And now the challenge has
grown to ensure our print,
broadcast, internet and mo-
bile phone media become the
choice of the continent - the
media of Africa for Africa.
The Press is often thought of
as the watchdog that keeps
an eye on Government and
through its vigilance helps to
moderate public affairs.
Since before Uhuru the Na-
tion has been present at every
major event in the country’s
proud history, recording, in-
forming, explaining the news.
Whether the death of a Presi-
dent, a major disaster, the
passing of vital legislation or
a national debate - Nation
journalists have been there.
Now as the focus of breaking
news shifts to the electronic
media - radio, TV, the inter-
net and our 6667 phone alerts
- newspapers are assuming a
different role.
The accent now is on what we
call Day Two, or Back Stories
-- expert reports that explain
what lies behind the news.
These put the day’s events
into context and help to pro-
vide a greater understand-
ing of the bewildering pace
of change. Of course, it is not
only exemplary news cover-
age that has seen the Nation
grow from one Sunday news-
paper into the largest media
house in East and Central
Africa. From a wafer thin
Kiswahili title beloved of na-
tionalist Kenyans, the group
runs newspapers and broad-
headlines, we have had our
share of disgrace and our mo-
ments of glory. We stood up
for Kenya’s independence,
championed the return of
multiparty democracy and ex-
posed Goldenberg and Anglo
Leasing, along with countless
other injustices against our
nation.
Of course, people buy news-
papers for many reasons.
Sometimes it is to read the
pioneering obituary pages, or
notices of college admissions
and new products.
Welcome, too, are advertise-
ments for jobs or cars and
even pets.
All is grist to the mill; part
and parcel of a great daily
read. Perhaps the greatest
challenge yet faced by jour-
nalists across all our media
was the post election violence
that rocked Kenya following
the 2007 poll. It tested our
courage and impartiality, our
ability to stand back from the
turmoil and report without
bias. We triumphed in the
end, but learnt painful les-
sons along the way.
Any newsroom is a micro-
cosm of the society it covers.
Just as our countrymen and
women were riven by con-
flicting loyalties, so divisions
crept into our newsrooms.
Yet it is immensely to the
credit of Nation group jour-
nalists that they were, finally,
able to put aside any differ-
ences and determine that
together their primary task
- in addition to reporting the
news - was somehow to help
heal the country; to bring
harmony where there was
discord.
I am proud to have been part
of that Nation team, and I am
even prouder now to lead it.
rise buildings would be models from the 1950s, memory. All would be running were few – speedo (in mph), tem-
and 10 cars cruising around on almost empty on crossply tyres (though radials perature gauge (in Fahrenheit),
was consid- streets between low-rise build- were about to arrive as the Miche- fuel gauge (in guesswork; the VW
ered a jam. ings (a queue of 10 cars was con- lin X, which everybody thought Beetle didn’t even have one) and,
NMG ARCHIVES sidered a traffic jam; the terms needed to be pumped up more). as an optional extra, a clock (in
“parking space” and “open road” None would have door mirrors, loud ticks). Full stop. Gear shift
were things that actually existed, all the bumper bars would be levers on the steering wheel were
common (so were bench seats)…
and often alone. There were no
combination lights-and-wipers
levers (those were push-pull but-
tons scattered randomly around
the unpadded dashboard; a two-
speed wiper was something to
mention in adverts, intermittent
options were unheard of, and the
washer spray was a completely
separate item activated by a one-
squirt-per-push manual pump).
The steering column did often
have a small second lever to make
the “trafficators” blink left or
right, and there were still plenty
of vehicles that did not have those
– instead, a little illuminated pad-
dle swung out of the door pillar,
at the behest of a toggle switch
near the ashtray.
Gado: Every which way but loose
I
t is Pulitzer winner Dough Marlette who once a cartoonist after freelancing with Daily News, Busi-
remarked: “Good cartoons are like visual rock ness Times and the Express, all of Tanzania.
and roll. They hit you primitively and emotion- He has won several local awards. In 1996 he was
ally, turning you every which way but loose.” honored by the International Olympic Media Award
Award winning Nation Cartoonist God- in Print Media and in 1999 was named Kenya Car-
frey Mwampembwa a.k.a Gado has been toonist of the Year. He has exhibited his works in
rocking our world with good cartoons, Tanzania, Kenya, France, Norway, Finland and Italy.
albeit controversial at times. But in be- A painter in oils and watercolours, Gado is a mem-
tween he has emerged as perhaps ber of Kenya Union of Journalists , the Association
one of the most outstanding Afri- of East African cartoonists , Cartoonists and Writers
can cartoonists in recent years. His Syndicate (C&W) and a Board Member of Cartoonist
editorial cartoons have often rubbed Rights Network .
authorities the wrong way and enter- At the moment Gado is the most syndicated
tained readers with the same zeal. political/editorial cartoonist in East and Central
Gado picked the mantle from the likes Africa. His works have also been published in Le
of Frank Odoi and Paul Kelemba who had Monde (France), the Washington Times (US), Des
graced the editorial pages in the 80s and Standard (Belgium) and Japan Times. He has pub-
has stuck like a permanent outcrop in lished two books: Abunuswasi (1996) a short story
the op-ed pages of the Nation. comic book and DEMOCRAZY! , a collection of his
Born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, editorial cartoons.
Gado joined Nation Editorial in 1992 as
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
RECOLLECTIONS
We knew we were involved in something special
By JOHN McHAFFIE
V
isitors to today’s Nation
Centre cannot fail to be
impressed by its gran-
deur, looking as it does every
inch the flagship headquarters
of a large and dynamic media
group.
But, whenever I walk through
its St Peter’s-like doors and into
its marble halls, I allow myself
a rueful smile as my mind goes
back over three decades to a
time when Nation newspapers
were put together in far hum-
bler surroundings.
The old Nation House, opposite
the fire station in Tom Mboya
Street, was a very different
proposition.
The long, two-storey building
had few of the features of its il-
lustrious successor. There was
no need for snazzy TV or radio
studios, since liberalisation of
the airwaves was still years
away. No need either for fancy
reception areas or elaborate se-
curity desks to screen visitors,
since terrorism had not yet
visited us and passers-by could,
and did, wander onto the edito-
rial floor after the most cursory
of checks.
The newsroom itself exuded
a noisy vibrancy, missing now
in the almost monastic silence
of today’s push-button, cyber
journalism. It was an “old
school” newsroom, with news
agency machines chattering
by the windows, reporters
pounding manual typewriters,
chained to their desks, and all
around the shuffling of short
typewritten pages known as
“takes” as sub-editors on the
news, sports and features desks
prepared stories for the next
day’s paper.
But, if our editorial surround-
ings were workaday, we still
knew that we were pioneers,
involved in something special.
Our photo-typesetting technol-
ogy and web-offset printing
process were way ahead of
London’s mighty Fleet Street.
The ability to print full-colour
pictures was one such inno-
vation, although (at least at
The newsroom first) considerable preparation
at old Nation time was required. A full-colour
House on Tom picture tended to appear in the
Mboya Street features pages, which were
Nairobi in the planned days ahead. Our first
early years. opportunity to put colour to
the test was the crash of a Boe-
ing 747 of Lufthansa Airlines in
Nairobi. Over time we got better
and faster, and colour became
a more regular occurrence,
50 GOLDEN YEARS XVII
eventually paving the way for a
triumphant double-page “Final
Farewell” edition for President
Kenyatta’s funeral.
But newspapers, perhaps more
than any other enterprise, are a
people business, a team endeav-
our, and when I look back, it is
the people who spring to mind:
µ Joe Rodrigues, editor supreme,
the rock around which the Na-
tion swirled – known as “Joe”,
because his original European
colleagues could not get their
tongues around Jawaharlal.
µ Irrepressible Joe Kadhi of the
booming laugh who now passes
on his vast experience to a new
generation of journalists as a
professor at USIU in Nairobi.
µ George Mbugguss and Bob
Muthusi, who in the early days
steered Taifa Leo, to its pre-emi-
nent position in Swahili publish-
ing.
µ Polymath and resident lexi-
cographer Phillip Ochieng, who
succeeded me as chief sub, and
is still strutting his stuff in the
Sunday Nation.
And then there were the young
lions of the time, who became
the grizzled veterans of later
times — Wangethi Mwangi,
Joseph Odindo, Tom Mshindi.
After me, other chief subs were:
Phillip Ochieng, Ali Hafidh,
Wangethi Mwangi, Joseph
Odindo, Kibe Kamunyu, Julius
Maina, Pamela Makotsi, Timothy
Wanyonyi and presently, Mbu-
gua Ng’ang’a.
XVIII | 50 GOLDEN YEARS DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010

CHRONOLOGY FROM CONCEPTION TO MATURITY

Briton sentenced to death for killing a Kenyan

can majority rule, the newspaper
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14
referred not only to Kenya but to Above left:
all of East Africa, a regional per- Delegates
and death and the country be- spective which, at the Aga Khan’s from left,
came a byword and a caution for behest, the company’s newspa- Jean Marie
those who feared African nations pers were to maintain through- Seroney,
were not yet equipped to handle out their history. For many years, Ronald
independence. Kenya’s Elspeth this stance flew in the face of Ngala,
Huxley, a writer and thinker on cool if not disdainful attitudes and, far
Africa, said in a Nation interview towards regional co-operation right, Ron-
that democracy would never by the governments themselves, ald Ngala.
work on the continent. Predict- fired as they were by the euphoria Above: A
ing a series of African dictators, of national sovereignty. procession
she declared, “It is not possible The colonial power had been on the way
to have a Western-style democ- an enthusiastic proponent of to the Uhuru
racy in a country divided deeply common services, creating such celebrations.
on racial, linguistic, cultural and institutions as East African Right: Presi-
religious lines.” Railways and Harbours and the dent Jomo
The Daily Nation hit the streets East African Currency Union. Kenyatta
on Monday, October 3, 1960, re- In 1961, an attempt was made chairs his
peating the company’s promise to harmonise the economies of first Cabinet
to “do our utmost to help Kenya Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika/ meeting. On
and the other East African ter- Tanzania when the East African his right is
ritories make the perilous tran- High Commission became the Vice-Presi-
sition to African majority rule East African Common Services dent Jara-
and full independence as peace- Organisation, which in turn mogi Oginga Rwanda and Burundi. The five prove on the weekend of Octo- A letter from a reader said, “The
fully and constructively as possi- became the East African Com- Odinga. members would effectively be- ber 3, 1960 and the paper’s own mountain has laboured and
ble.” Cautiously, it mentioned no munity in 1967. Due to differing come a single state within the launch was promoted to second brought forth a mouse.”
time frame but pledged to act as political philosophies, this entity African Union, hopefully by 2013. lead on Page One. The main story Stung, the newsroom fought
a watchdog for the common man, effectively stopped functioning Despite a long history of federal told of the return home of the back. Through initiative and
“guarding the liberty of the indi- in 1972 and collapsed in 1977. failures, the Nation’s faith in a Sultan of Zanzibar after hospital- hard work and driven by Bier-
vidual against bureaucracy and It was revived in 2000 with the strong regional presence never isation in Europe, describing him man, reporters brought in a se-
totalitarianism, however they intention of paving the way to wavered and year after year it as “fit as a fiddle.” He died within ries of exclusive front page sto-
may manifest themselves.” In re- a full-scale federation compris- called for new efforts towards weeks. Writing 25 years later for ries on widely different topics
peating its commitment to Afri- ing Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, integration. the paper’s silver jubilee souve- which kept people talking about
Unlike its Sunday sibling, nir, editor Bierman recalled, “It the paper, even if not enough
The Daily Nation hit the streets on the Daily Nation’s growth was was not, let us be frank, a very were buying it. “It was hard and
Monday, October 3, 1960, repeating to prove slow and painful. The good issue…and it went down often heart-breaking work,” Bier-
the company’s promise to “do our choice of a launch date, for ex- rather like a lead balloon.” The man recalled, but it did finally
utmost to help Kenya and the other East ample, was questionable. A print order for the launch was pay off. Putting sales back at a
Monday paper has to carry news 15,500 and it sold 13,000. Sales modest 200 per week, circulation
African territories make the perilous from Sunday and there is often dropped even further when the rose slowly to a point of viability.
transition to African majority rule and not much happening on the tra- curiosity factor abated and come But it took more than five years
full independence ditional day of rest. So it was to November were down to 12,000. to cross the 20,000 barrier, which
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
Path to Uhuru full of problems
the Sunday Nation achieved in
four months. Inevitably, what
mostly filled the new newspa-
per’s columns was politics.
What disappointed the Nation’s
liberal-minded young journal-
ists was the critical attitude of
the emerging class of African
politicians when hardline po-
litical in-fighting began to domi-
nate the national scene. While
not being so starry-eyed as to ex-
pect gratitude for their support
for independence, they were dis-
mayed that such a positive stance
seemed to count for nothing and
motives of ill-will were imputed
to them when they reported con-
tentious but valid issues. Bier-
man shot back: “It is right and
proper that Nation Newspapers
should report and comment on
these differences (within Kanu).”
It would, he warned, continue to
do so.
It was the Nation’s stubborn
adherence to investigating and
reporting all sides of an issue
that was to gain it a reputation
At heart was a failure by politicians to understand the difference
between being independent and being hostile to government.
Almost to a man they hewed to the Biblical adjuration, “He who is
not with us is against us.”
from knee-jerk commentators of
being an anti-government news-
paper. At heart was a failure by
politicians to understand the
difference between being inde-
pendent and being hostile to
government. Almost to a man
they hewed to the Biblical adju-
ration, “He who is not with us is
against us.” The price for main-
taining its integrity was a deeply
uncomfortable life for the Nation
and its staff for virtually all of its
50 years to date.
The path to independence was
cluttered with problems but in
retrospect its achievement was
inevitable. In January 1960, some
50 Kenya delegates attended the
first constitutional conference at
Lancaster House in London. Fly-
Above: Jomo
Kenyatta signs
the instruments
of independence;
Right, Miss Uhuru,
Elizabeth Mumbi,
in a recent photo,
with a picture
of herself from
1963. At left, how
the Nation carried
the story of Ken-
ya’s independence
celebrations in
the Friday edition
of December 13,
1963. The paper
cost 30 cents.
ing together on the same airplane
were a group of African nation-
alists including Mboya, Odinga
and Daniel Arap Moi – but not
Kenyatta, who was still in deten-
tion; moderate Europeans led by
Michael Blundell; and a party of
settlers headed by Group Captain
“Puck” Briggs. A proposed multi-
racial constitution was accepted
by Blundell and, reluctantly, by
the Africans, but rejected by the
settlers. Clearly more talks were
needed and the Kenyans flew
back to Nairobi, where a set-
tler threw 30 silver sixpences at
Blundell and cried that he was
“a Judas.”
When a second round of talks
took place in London in 1962,
Kenyatta, now freed from all re-
50 GOLDEN YEARS XIX
strictions, led the African del-
egation. Kanu’s men pressed for
centralism while an opposition
African group, the Kenya African
Democratic Union led by Ronald
Ngala, argued for regionalism or
majimbo. A framework constitu-
tion was eventually mapped out
and taken back to Nairobi to be
refined. A new Governor, Mal-
colm MacDonald, threw out the
planned timetable for an elec-
tion in the autumn of 1963 and
independence by the end of 1964.
Kenyans were just too impatient,
he said. Elections were set in-
stead for May 1963, internal self-
rule on June 1 and independence
in December. MacDonald organ-
ised a grinding series of meetings
by African ministers to finalise
the constitution -- three sessions
a day, three days a week. A 248-
page constitution was finally
agreed and tabled as an Order in
Council. It met the needs of the
day but was to be amended many
times in the coming years.
In the election, Kanu won two-
thirds of the vote and formed a
strong government with Kenyatta
as prime minister. The Nation, in
a landmark decision, printed the
headline, “Kanu for Kenya,” the
first and so far the only time it
has endorsed a political party.
It argued that Kanu had more
talent in its ranks than Kadu and
that a centralised form of govern-
ment was preferable to regional
rule. Typically, it also claimed
March, 1960. Kanu would be
better at achieving federation in
East Africa – an argument that
was to be decisively disproved
by the party’s lukewarm attitude
to federation. Finally on Decem-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 21
XX | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
RECOLLECTIONS
Vidyarthi: Pioneer
photojournalist
By SHRAVAN VIDYARTHI
B
orn in Nairobi in 1944,
Anil Vidyarthi began
taking pictures with
a Box Brownie camera at the
age of 16. Anil’s father, G.L.
Vidyarthi, had established
Kenya’s first anti-colonial
newspaper in 1933 as well as
a host of vernacular news-
papers.
It was at his father’s pr
inting press that Anil would
watch his cousin, photo-
journalist Priya Ramrakha,
processing pictures of lead-
ers like Jomo Kenyatta, Tom
Mboya and Daniel arap Moi.
Anil bought his first Nikon
camera in 1962. He was
working then in a dark room
on River Road. On the rec-
ommendation of reporter
Chhotu Karadia, Nation edi-
tor John Bierman agreed to
bring Vidyarthi on board.
There were few photojour-
nalists in those days, and
most photographers plied
their trade in Nairobi’s stu-
dios. Caleb Okwera, who
worked alongside Vidyarthi,
was the only black African
photographer at the Nation
before independence.
Vidyarthi’s first assign-
ment was to photograph a
derailed train near Nairobi.
He recalls: “We jumped on
a plane to get an overhead
shot. I started shooting with
a camera provided by the
Nation and the film ran out
after two exposures. To save
film, photographers would
leave unexposed frames in
the camera. I had no idea
that was the case when I
started, but luckily I still got
the shot!”
Members of the Nairobi Press Corps cameramen, line up
behind President Kenyatta at the 1966 Limuru Kanu Confer-
ence. Directly behind the President is Nation cameraman Anil
Vidyarthi. Second from right is Nation photographer Akhtar
Hussein. It is not recorded who took this picture.
Vidyarthi became a staff
photographer at Nation in
1963 and covered Kenya’s In-
dependence celebrations in
December of that year. Many
Kenyans will remember his
photo of Jomo Kenyatta
jumping over a stream in the
Maasai Mara game reserve
on his way to greet Ameri-
can astronauts vacationing
in Kenya.
“Before the astronauts ar-
rived, President Kenyatta
and politician JM Kariuki
were taking a walk near a
small stream,” Vidyarthi
says. “Then Kenyatta jumped
over it. I had three cameras
around my neck and quickly,
without focusing, clicked the
shutter a few times. There
were 30 photographers wait-
ing, but I was the only one
who got the shot. The pic-
ture was on the front page
of Nation the next day and
Kenyatta ordered hundreds
of prints to send to leaders
around the world when-
ever they inquired about his
health.”
Vidyarthi left Nation in
1967 for a brief stint in the
printing industry and then
joined Derby College of Art
in England to pursue a two-
year degree in photography
in 1969. He moved to New
York in 1971 and found casu-
al work at Life magazine.
He returned home in Janu-
ary1972 and took up work
in the printing industry. In
the early 1980s, he returned
briefly to photography and
covered President Moi’s state
visit to India for Viva maga-
zine. Anil is now the manag-
ing director of Colourprint
Limited printing press.
The Nations’ photo aces
The police followed them there and after the
door to the house was broken down by firemen,
a police inspector shot himself in the foot
P
hotography has played a major
role in Nation journalism.
1971 - 1992
Among key photographers was
YAHYA MOHAMED, who worked for
Nation between 1971 and 1992.
An amusing but also tragic assign-
ment for him was one of a robbery
from the Queensway branch of Bar-
clays. After robbers took the money
and fled, he recalls, they took refuge
in a house at Uhuru estate in the city’s
Eastlands.
The police followed them there and
after the door to the house was bro-
ken down by firemen, a police inspec-
tor shot himself in the foot.
“The inspector was drawing a gun
from his holster but it went off and a
bullet went through his foot. I got the
picture, and earned myself an imme-
diate promotion,” Yahya recalled. The
robbers were caught.
SAM OUMA, worked for Nation
between 1981-1988 and then for a sec-
Yahya Mohamed ond stint between 1990 and 1998. He
1988 - 2001
1981 -1988 & 1990 - 1998
1960 - 1965
Joseph Thuo Yusuf Wachira
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
LEFT:
Vidyarthi’s
famous
shot of a fit
and lively
Kenyatta
jumping over
a stream in
the Maasai
Mara. Behind
him is his then
secreatary,
J.M. Kariuki.
COURTESY OF A. VID-
YARTHI
remembers the 1982 coup attempt as
one of the most memorable and also
traumatic times. He was with a neigh-
bour of his near the Nyayo National
stadium when a shot rang out. His
neighbour fell dead. He had been
shot by security forces.
Sam says he had warned him that
leaving the house would be danger-
ous, but his neighbour did not lis-
ten. The 1998 Nairobi bomb blast
will touched him in a personal way.
He says that five minutes before the
bomb went off, he had received a mys-
terious call in the office from a man
with an Arab accent, who said that “a
building in Nairobi will dance today.”
YUSUF WACHIRA worked for Na-
tion from 1988 to 2001 and remem-
bers the day when Alexander Muge,
the Anglican Bishop of Eldoret’s
church service in Kirinyaga was dis-
rupted by a chief who wanted to slap
the bishop. The congregation booed
the chief out of the church leading to
riots in Kirinyaga town.
Other notable photographers have
included Joseph Odiyo, who has since
died, and Joseph Thuo.
– Compiled by Kibe Kamunyu
Sam Ouma
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010 50 GOLDEN YEARS XXI

Challenge to the constitution

1971: Ugan- many other newly independent
da’s General African nations at that time.
Idi Amin Dada On the first anniversary of
comes to power independence, Kenya became a
through a mili- Republic and Kenyatta its first
tary coup President. In a speech mark-
ing the occasion, he declared
1978: A front that the independence consti-
and back spread tution was “too rigid, expensive
of Kenyatta’s and unworkable.” Kenyatta Day
funeral. – October 20 -- had already been
established to mark the arrest
and detention of Kenyatta and
his companions 12 years earlier.
The direction in which the coun-
try was heading was clearly elu-
cidated on November 10, when
Ronald Ngala’s Kadu joined the
Kanu government and Kenya be-
came a one-party state. The Min-
Right: 1980/81: istry of Home Affairs was taken
It was a tragic from VP Oginga Odinga and
New year’s eve given to Daniel Arap Moi.
when a power- As the decade moved on, devel-
ful bomb ripped opments emerged which were to
through part become recurring motifs in the
of the Norfolk Kenya story such as corruption
Hotel as guests scandals, quarrels about free ex-
gathered for a pression and constant scrapping
party. over political power.
When a maize shortage hit
Below Right: the nation, an inquiry was or-
1976: Israeli dered into suspected thievery
hostage after at a high level. There followed
their release fol- scandal at the West Kenya Mar-
lowing a com- keting Board, with allegations of
mando raid on a cheque being signed for a Mer-
Entebbe. cedes car and outrageous pay-
ments to MPs. The entire board
Extreme Right: was sacked and staff suspended.
1978: Dan- Assurances of Press freedom by
iel arap Moi Attorney-General Charles Njonjo
is sworn in as were received with reserve by
Kenya’s second the Nation and an editorial said,
president. “While newspapers understand
the problem which the Govern-
ment faces, it is only fair that
the Government and politicians
should understand the troubled
political waters through which
newspapers must walk.” When
in May 1966 Kenyatta named
Joseph Murumbi as Vice-Presi-
dent, Odinga resigned and soon
afterwards announced formation
basa on what was then only a missionaries, Ng’weno saw to officers and foreign reporters, of the Kenya People’s Union with
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19
murram road infested with wild it that the slaughter of thou- the first journalist being Tony 28 other dissident legislators.
animals and subject to sudden sands of Congolese Africans was Dunn, the Nation’s man in Dar Since MPs joining a new party
ber 12, 1963, the Union Jack was floods.” The Nation had become brought to the attention of news- es Salaam. Dunn was originally were required to resign from
lowered and Kenya’s new flag – a a truly national newspaper and hungry Kenyans. expelled by the government of Parliament, a “little general elec-
shield and crossed spears on a it was clear the time was ripe to In government circles there Tanzania, and thus automatical- tion” was held for 30 seats. The
red, black and green background appoint a Kenyan to lead the edi- were signs of the uncertainty ly under a bilateral agreement, result was a major victory for
– was raised in its place. The Na- torial team. that affected many new nations by Kenya, too. His offence was Kanu, which won 21 of the avail-
tion’s front page declared “Kenya The Board’s choice was a Har- when its inexperienced politi- to report too accurately on Afri- able seats. Said Kanu secretary-
Free!” vard graduate and a journal- cians were suddenly handed can-on-Arab violence which had general Mboya: “The KPU is dead
As the new government strug- ist who had already made his power. In the belief that news- flared on Zanzibar, and insurrec- and the voters buried it.”
gled to find its feet, so the Nation mark as a feature writer, Hi- papers should act as an arm of tion in the army on mainland The Sixties ended in darkness.
began to flex its muscles, Michael lary Ng’weno. The new editor development, the Information Tanzania. Military mutinies soon On July 5, 1969, Tom Mboya, aged
Curtis recalled: “We became the brought an African perspective Ministry tightened its grip on the flared in Kenya and Uganda, too, 38, was shot dead coming out of
first newspaper to distribute to reporting and writing, clearly flow of government news, taking but these were quelled with Brit- a chemist’s shop barely 100 yards
nationwide from our presses in demonstrated by the upheaval in control of the Kenya Broadcast- ish military help. Embarrassing from Nation House. The Nation
Nairobi. We did what everyone the Congo following the murder ing Corporation and changing its as these incidents were for the described it as “the most horrific
in Nairobi told me was impossi- of Patrice Lumumba. As interna- name to the Voice of Kenya. new nations, they served to il-
ble and ran our Land-Rovers the tional news agencies focussed It also deported a number lustrate the dangers of military
CONTINUED ON PAGE 24
whole of the 300 miles to Mom- their reports on the fate of white of former colonial government takeovers that were afflicting
XXII | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
Stories the editors
GOOFS & GAFFES
would prefer to forget
T
he success story of any media house is
inevitably interspersed with the sort
of failures and blunders which make
those discreet, bottom-of-the-page “Correc-
tions and Clarifications” required reading
by journalists and consumers alike.
Nation Media Group has been no excep-
tion. Mostly, these blunders just made the
newspapers look silly. On the lighter side,
Daily Nation librarian ANNIEL NJOKA re-
calls two such stories:
Driving in reverse claim
This saga started in 1985 when Eric Awori,
a scion of East Africa’s well-known Awori
family and a Rugby player with Kenya Har-
lequins, was reported to have driven a car in
reverse all 500kms from Mombasa to Nai-
robi. It eventually turned out it was all false.
He was arrainged in court on fraud charges
and fined.
He did not milk an elephant
In November 1998 a small news item was
turned into a full-page feature.
Then the international news agencies
picked it up, and an unknown 22-year old
Kenyan became a global celebrity for the
amazing feat of milking an elephant, a wild
one, not a tame creature in a zoo.
Mr Peter Baraza, however, was not im-
pressed with all the fame that transformed
him into an instant celebrity. On leaving
hospital, Mr Baraza filed a lawsuit against
the Nation for carrying false reports and
was awarded a handsome sum.
1969
Tom Mboya is
JULY
gunned down
By JOHN KAMAU
O
n a Monday morning,
October 14, the Court of
Appeal for Eastern Africa
delivered its final verdict on the
man who shot dead Tom Mboya,
Nahashon Isaac Njenga Njoroge.
“We are satisfied that in all the
circumstances, the trial judge
was correct in coming to the con-
clusion that the evidence showed
beyond reasonable doubt the
guilt of the appellant,” said Sir
Charles Newbold, after a hearing
of the appeal that lasted three-
hours and twenty-five minutes.
It was a dramatic end to
the case as defence counsel, S
M Waruhiu cut his listed six
grounds for the appeal to three.
Njenga was arrested on July
21, some 17 days after the murder
of Economic Planning and De-
velopment minister as he left a
chemist on the then Government
Road, now Moi Avenue.
A statement from Mr. Bernard
Hinga, Comimissioner of Police,
issued that night identified Njen-
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
JM Kariuki’s murder: Reflections
1975
MARCH
I remember the initial shock and
disbelief; the riots in the streets and
the open rebellion in Parliament
By MACHARIA GAITHO friendship with Zambian Cabi-
net minister Vernon Mwaanga
T
he screaming Daily Na- and even provided details of
tion headline that Ken- where he was staying in Lusaka
yans woke up to one — lacked any shred of truth.
morning in early March 1975 The Nation eventually re-
read, “JM in Zambia.” covered the public’s confidence
If the headline was meant to but the JM falsehood remained
reassure Kenyans that all was a stain on the history of the
well after the popular maverick newspaper.
MP had been reported missing, As a high school student and
it turned out to be a cruel joke. avid newspaper reader at the
For that very day, J.M. Kariuki’s time, I followed the keenly the Populist politician JM Kariuki, killed in 1975.
mutilated body was found at aftermath of the brutal murder
the Nairobi City Mortuary, of Kenya’s most popular politi- unmatched by any other probe people in those days were al-
tagged as an “unknown male cian. by MPs. lied to one or another political
African”. I remember clearly the initial As a Nation staffer, I have faction even in the one-party
As the country struggled to shock and disbelief; the riots in every JM Anniversary reflect- era where the battle was for the
come to grips with the assas- the streets and the open re- ed on the disastrous blunder Kenyatta succession.
sination of the fiery MP for bellion in Parliament that under the supervision of the It remains difficult, however,
Nyandarua North and the gov- shook the hitherto impregna- then editor-in-chief, George to decipher the reasons behind
ernment of President Kenyatta ble Kenyatta government to Githii. the story. If the intention was to
reeled under the public anger, the core; the blatant police Politicians of that era pro- buy a beleaguered government
the Nation Group hung its head cover-up; and the hearings and vide fascinating insights into some breathing space as part of
in shame. findings of the Parliamentary the kind of manouevres which a coordinated cover-up, it was
The headline — and the en- Select Committee chaired by were played out at the time and a massive flop that did incal-
tire story that recounted JM’s Elijah Mwangale that remain how many senior newspaper culable harm to the Nation. Mr
ga as the suspect. He appeared
before a Nairobi magistrate S.K.
sachdeva charged with the mur-
der of Mboya.
Witnesses who had been with
Njenga that day say that he had
vowed to finish Mboya. “He will
never vie again for the Kamuku-
nji seat,” Njoroge was alleged
to have said: “Tom-will not live
while I live”.
During the investigation, a gun
was recovered from his house in
Ofafa Jericho.
Mr Nahashon Njenga was
born on November 28 , 1936, in
Kiambu. He graduated from the
High Military School V. Levsk in
the People’s Republic of Bulgaria,
after taking courses in military
techniques, and firing prepara-
tions. The trial of Njenga was cov- Mourners wail
Njenga maintained during the ered verbatim by the Nation and weep fol-
trail that a man he knew only but the final verdict did not end lowing the death
as Jimmy bought the revolver, speculation that there was an- of charismat-
and six rounds of ammunition other “big man” who was in- ic politician,
for him for £25 a day after Mr volved. Tom Mboya in
Mboya was shot. Njenga had during alluded 1969. Inset, the
He had no licence for the to the collusion of a “big man” Nation’s special
weapon. whom he did not name. edition of the
killing.
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010 50 GOLDEN YEARS XXIII

on the Nation’s most shameful episode

Githii was a political animal, but
it is puzzling that he might have
tried to aid a Kanu faction, the
so-called Kiambu Mafia around
Kenyatta, that he would probably
have preferred to battle.
The Nation editor was seen as
close to the Kanu faction grouped
around the then Vice President
Daniel Arap Moi and Attorney-
General Charles Njonjo. The
group was involved in a power
struggle against the Kiambu
Mafia represented by such stal-
warts as former Foreign Min-
ister Njoroge Mungai, Defence
Minister James Gichuru, Lands
Minister Jackson Angaine, Hous-
ing Minister Paul Ngei and Gema
boss Njenga Karume. These
made up the core of a group that
later came to mount the “Change
the Constitution” campaign to
prevent Moi from succeeding
It was not a good start to the
conversation, especially because the
Uhuru team was not comfortable with
the way the Nation was covering the
campaign
Kenyatta. Mr Njonjo was hostile
to Dr Mungai, and there found
an invaluable ally in the Nation
editor.
And one must go back then
to the battle for Dagoretti at the
1974 general election. I was in
Form 2. I still recall the almost
daily reports on the front page
of Nation detailing in breathless
prose how Dr Johnson Muth-
iora, a newcomer and political
non-entity straight out of studies
in the US, was giving Dr Mungai
a run for his money on the cam-
paign trail.
Mungai was one of the most
powerful figures in the Kenyatta
court. He had served as Foreign
Minister and Defence Minister
and doubled up as the elderly
President Kenyatta’s physician.
He was also the favourite can-
didate of the Kiambu group to
succeed Kenyatta. Looking back,
it becomes almost obvious that
were it not for the Nation’s bra-
zen campaign for his opponent,
Dr Mungai would not have lost
the Dagoretti seat.
Dr Mungai still remembers.
Many years after that climactic
Dagoretti campaign, I was part
of a Nation Media Group team
that was touching base with all
the key political groupings ahead
of the 2002 General Election.
In the process we hosted the
key campaign strategists and
advisors for Kanu presidential
candidate Uhuru Kenyatta, son
of the late President.
The team was led to Na-
tion Centre by nine other than be a repeat of Dagoretti 74 all over system, abetted by a culture of
Njoroge Mungai. Even before he again. It took quite some effort to the time which seemed to dictate Mourners
took his seat in the boardroom, convince him that this time the that the editorial desk be under carry the cas-
Dr Mungai remarked that he had campaign he was now heading the stewardship of a personality ket ofpopulist
never been hosted by the Nation would get fair treatment. who was tightly embedded in the politician JM
since the paper had beaten him The Dagoretti campaign cover- political system Kariuki. He
in the battle for Dagoretti in age and the JM in Zambia report The headstrong Githii was was buried in
1974! caused Nation some serious cred- finally dismissed after he went his home in
It was not a good start to the ibility problems. overboard with personal cam- Nyandarua.
conversation, especially because While it would be convenient to paigns and openly defied the
the Uhuru team was not comfort- lay all the blame on one maverick Board of Directors.
able with the way the Nation was editor-in-chief, it might be more His mercurial reign forced a
covering the campaign. Dr Mun- accurate to look at the failings of major re-evaluation of Nation
gai seemed to think that it might the management and oversight editorial policies.
XXIV | 50 GOLDEN YEARS DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010

When soldiers attempted a coup

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

event.” that has taken place in the short his-

tory of our young republic.”
Changes at Nation House saw Hilary
Ng’weno resign in 1965 to go into book
publishing. He was followed by the trucu-
lent and charismatic George Githii, from
the President’s Press team.
With characteristic gusto, Githii at-
tacked growing official corruption and
led a vigorous campaign against the gov-
ernment’s Public Security Bill which he
charged would restrict citizens’ freedoms
and lead to detention without trial. When
students at Nairobi’s University College
protested against the measures, waving
placards saying “Not Yet Uhuru” – the title
of a recent book by Oginga Odinga – the
government closed the college. Githii re-
signed in 1968 to take up a place at Oxford
University and was succeeded by the quiet
and subtle Boaz Omori.
The Sixties ended in darkness. On July 5,
1969, Tom Mboya, aged 38, was shot dead
coming out of a chemist’s shop barely 100
yards from Nation House.
The Nation described it as “the most
horrific event that has taken place in the Above: Leader of the 1982 coup
short history of our young republic.” On attempt Hezekiah Ochuka.
September 10, Nahason Isaac Njenga Kenyans had a rough time going about
Njoroge was sentenced to hang for the their business after the mutiny by ele-
murder. He said, “All I know is that I did ments of the Kenya Air Force.
not commit this offence.”
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
Reactions as controversial as the ruling
By KIBE KAMUNYU
1986 -1987
S
M Otieno, a criminal law-
yer of no mean repute,
died on December 20,
1986. His death sparked a huge
controversy over customary
and common law in Kenya.
Silvano Melea Otieno was
born at Nyalgunga village in
Siaya, in Nyanza Province.
After his death, Nyalgunga be-
came a by-word for village in
the popular Kenyan patois.
Otieno had married a
Kikuyu, Virginia Wambui
Otieno. When he died, she de-
clared that he had wanted to be
buried at his farm in Ngong on
the outskirts of Nairobi. But the
lawyer’s Umira Kager clan said
their Luo tradition required
that he be buried in his ances-
tral home. They went to court,
setting the stage for a massive
legal dispute.
The case went through the
High Court, then to the Court
of Appeal and on February 13,
1987, the Umira Kager clan re-
ceived a ruling in their favour. In
the following day’s Nation, the
headline read, ‘Song and dance
holds up city traffic.’ Reporter
Irungu Ndirangu, wrote: “At
12.15 sharp, Mr Joash Ochieng
Ougo, the younger brother of
the late criminal lawyer, Mr S.
M. Otieno, stepped out of the
High Court buildings and thun-
dered: ‘Nyalgunga! Nyalgunga!
Nyalgunga!’ his hands punch-
ing the air.”
His booming voice drowned
the voices of about six women
intoning solemn Christian
tunes in Dholuo and march-
ing before him as in a funeral
procession.
The crowd responded by
whistling, dancing and clap-
ping as hundreds of Umira
Kager clans-people gathered
on City Hall Way and along
Wabera Street.
The cry of Nyalgunga! Nyal-
gunga, was repeated countless
times and Mr Ochieng said, “ I
am happy that the Kenyan Gov-
ernment has allowed justice to
take its course.”
Reactions to the court rul-
ing were as controversial as
the case.
One Nation reader wrote, “To
my mind it was not Mrs Otieno
or the Umira Kager clan that
were on trial. At the dock was
50 GOLDEN YEARS XXV
High Court and the Court of Lawyer SM
Appeal failed to address them- Otieno in
selves to these poignant ques- the corri-
tions. Here was an opportu- dors of the
nity for the judges to reject High Court
ridiculous practices in favour in Nairobi.
of progress and good taste. But Inset, how
they refused to take it, and in the Nation
so doing, have spelt disaster reported the
for many families. The injuries story of his
caused by the Court of Appeal burial.
ruling will take a generation
to heal.”
Another reader, Kunga wa
Rutere, said: “The learned
judge’s ruling that Mr Otieno
be buried in Nyalgunga should
make it clear to every woman
who wishes to be married
across the tribal barriers
that she should be ready to
embrace and identify fully
with the ways of her, hope-
fully loved husband.
This is not only where
inter tribal marriages are
concerned. Even where the
the very existence of Kenya as couples belong to the same
nation. What is the future of tribe, it should be obvious to
mixed marriages in Kenya? the wife that she is expected
What protection does the law to cuddle most lovingly to the
provide to a nucleus family in ways of the family of her hus-
the event of the male spouse band because that is where
passing away? The judges, the she now belongs.”
XXVI | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
CHRONOLOGY FROM CONCEPTION TO MATURITY
1986 - 2010: Troubles and triumphs of
The 1982 coup attempt blemished
Kenya’s hitherto benign image and
human rights became a serious issue
T
he important events in
a country’s history do
not always follow neat-
ly year by year or come
handily packaged by the decade.
More often, trends and signals
will show up coyly on the politi-
cal scene, their significance un-
recognised; for months or even
years, they disappear from view,
only to explode at some future
point in full historical fury.
This was often the pattern dur-
ing the second half of the two na-
tions’ story (country and news-
paper) as events which impacted
volcanically on both the country
and the newspaper alternated
with fallow years of quiet and
progress.
A mature, educated Kenyan,
looking back over the last quarter
century, would probably identify
1986 and 1987 as the years of the
notorious Mwakenya scare, when
lots of innocent Kenyans were
locked up on dubious grounds of
sedition. In the midst of all this,
Parliament found time to confer
more power on the head of state.
Mention 1988 and the word
mlolongo would probably enter
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
our observer’s mind, for that
was the year Kenyans queued
up behind large photographs of
candidate MPs in what became
known as “the selection within
the election”.
By any standards, 1989 was
one of the volcanic years: Inter-
nationally, the collapse of Com-
munism, nationally the bloody
fight for multi-partyism, Matiba/
Rubia/Hempstone/ Saba Saba.
Into the 1990s: Ethnic clashes
and the deaths of Robert Ouko
and Bishop Alexander Muge.
New opposition parties are
formed, but do not unite and
President Moi and Kanu win the
first multiparty election since
1963. The Nation group moves
into a new headquarters on
Kimathi Street, creates its first
new paper for years and builds a
state-of-the-art press hall. A new
word enters the Kenyan lexicon: At least 44 dubious enemy of the nation, the broadcast outlets in Tanzania scandals involving government
Goldenberg. Kenyans February Eighteen Revolutionary and Uganda. ministers.
International terrorism afflicts were jailed Army. It proves as hard to track The opposition to Kanu fi- Amidst anger and disenchant-
the region in 1998 as bombs ex- despite down as its predecessor. nally unites and Mwai Kibaki ment, voters reject a proposed
plode at the American embassies lack of evi- NMG marks the arrival of the becomes head of state in 2002 new constitution in 2005 and
in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. dence that second millennium with a flurry in succession to the long-serving after the 2007 election, Kenya
Memories of Mwakenya are Mwakenya of expansion, going into tel- President Moi. Promises to end is seized by a paroxysm of ethnic
aroused by reports of another really evision and acquiring print and corruption are belied by new violence which kills an estimat-
existed.
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DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010 50 GOLDEN YEARS XXVII

two nations
Profession-
als, univer-
sity lecturers
and students
appeared in
court in ever-
ed 1,200 people and displaces at The 1982 coup attempt seri- rising numbers
least a quarter of a million. Two ously blemished Kenya’s hith- to face sedi-
months of negotiation and the erto benign international image tion charges.
threat of international pariah and amidst the uncertainty and
status lead to peace under a new tension that followed, human
power-sharing arrangement. rights emerged as a serious issue
Such is the nature of day-to-day for the first time. It was widely
life, it is the negative that catches known that many students were
the attention while incremental foremost in supporting the coup
progress goes scarcely noticed rebels and by 1986, graduates,
– in Kenya’s case, the easing of university lecturers and profes-
civil oppression, release of politi- sional people began disappear-
cal prisoners, the demystification ing from the streets in growing
of the presidency, the willingness numbers.
of Kenyans to stand up for them- When they reappeared it was
selves, the disappearance of petty usually for brief court hearings
party dictators, unprecedented where they were accused of pos-
freedom of the media to criticise sessing seditious documents
and complain. and/or belonging to a seditious
The following articles attempt organisation and/or failing to variably pleaded guilty and usu- yans were convicted of sedition. Many MPs reported receiv-
to address the high points of report the existence of such an ally drew jail terms. The notorious organisation in ing subversive literature anony-
1986-2010 in greater detail. organisation. The accused often Between March and Septem- question was Mwakenya (Union mously and a 1987 statement,
bore injuries from their cells, in- ber of 1986 alone, some 44 Ken- of Patriots to Liberate Kenya) purportedly from Mwakenya,
which to this day remains a thing denounced Kanu and “the cyni-
of mystery. Kanu supporters de- cal philosophies of Harambee
Mention 1988 and the word ‘mlolongo; would probably enter our ob- nounced Mwakenya as a revolu- and Nyayoism.” The statement,
server’s mind, for that was the year Kenyans queued up behind large tionary underground movement couched in classic Marxist phra-
photographs of candidate MPs in what became known as ‘the selec- operating from London with the seology, said: “The basic means
tion within the election’. 1989 was one of the volcanic years aim of overthrowing the govern-
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 26
ment by violence.

GENERATORS FROM 10 KVA UP TO 500 KVA ALL AVAILABLE EX STOCK AND ALL AT UNBEATABLE PRICES

The management and staff of Blackwood Hodge (Kenya) Ltd.

Congratulate Nation Media Group Ltd
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We are Proud to be associated with you
XXVIII | 50 GOLDEN YEARS DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010

Deputy Speak-
er
Kalonzo Musy-
oka
led MPs in
denouncing
The Nation,
leading to the
newspaper
being banned
from covering
the House.

Right: 1985:
President Moi
welcomes Pope
John Paul II
when he visted
Kenya.
NMG ARCHIVES Reporters knew no Mwakenya Mwakenya-related charges.
officials and received no calls, But there seemed little doubt
manifestos or Press releases that the crackdown confronted
from them. the universities with the stark
There were no known office lo- reality of state power, undermin-

Parliament bans the Nation

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27
of production, distribution and
exchange are owned by imperial-
ist foreigners and transnational
corporations… the ruling com-
prador class acts as an overseer,
supervising the outflow of wealth
into Western capitals.”
Security officials claimed that
Mwakenya was led by Kenya’s
famed writer-dissident (and
one-time Nation columnist) Pro-
fessor Ngugi wa Thiong’o, while
academic studies of the era have
named various well-known Ken-
yan politicians as members.
But the organisation remained
a chimera to the Kenya media.
cations or telephone or fax num-
bers. Everything that came to the
media and appeared as trial evi-
dence was from the government.
The seditious documents pro-
duced in court were always pho-
tocopies, never originals.
It was not only university peo-
ple who were victims of the secu-
rity dragnet – civil servants and
journalists, too, were picked up,
including Wahome Mutahi, the
author of Whispers, a widely
popular Sunday Nation column,
who received 15 months in jail on
ing the academic capacity for in-
dependent thought and explora-
tion in the political arena.
In ironic juxtaposition to the
unhappy national scene, the Na-
tion group itself was doing well
at this time, benefiting from a
significant increase in capital ex-
penditure which had been agreed
at the birth of its second quarter-
century.
The company invested in a
computerised input system for
editorial, classified advertising
and some production functions.

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DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
Seriously covering the East African region
By JAINDI KISERO
I
joined The EastAfrican
as editor when it was 10
years old. The founding
fathers conceived of it as a
business-oriented regional
weekly with a hybrid con-
tent: investigative reporting,
analysis and interpretation of
major trends in the political
economy of the region.
The landscape of economic
and business journalism had
changed dramatically be-
tween 1994 when the paper
was launched and early 2005
when I came in.
In the first place, news-
papers in the region gener-
ally were beginning to devote
much more time and space to
economic and business con-
tent. In Tanzania, new Eng-
lish-language newspapers
had emerged, all devoting
space and an expanded news
hole to public policy issues.
The same thing was hap-
pening in Ugan-
da. Like their
Kenyan counter-
parts, the major
papers there
offered weekly
pull-outs devot-
ed to business
and economic re-
porting.
In terms of de-
sign, The EastAfrican was po-
sitioned a good notch higher
than the daily newspapers.
The design was more sophis-
ticated, in keeping with its
predicted core audience of
educated readers looking for
quality information beyond
the reprocessing of Press re-
leases, reports of politicians’
public meetings, the repro-
duction of unanalysed stock
tables and routine reports
from central banks and state-
owned statistical agencies.
By 2005, all the major daily
newspapers in the region had
adopted modern, upmarket
designs with colour photo-
graphs, information-loaded
graphics, front-page digests
and teasers. The gap between
The EastAfrican and the rest
of the media world had nar-
rowed significantly since
1994.
Against this backdrop, we
at The EastAfrican had to re-
think our sense of place and
re-invent ourselves. The aim
was to offer more than East
Africa’s dailies were offering
and to place ourselves at the
head of the new dispensa-
tion.
Daily newspapers tend to
concentrate on politics. And
50 GOLDEN YEARS XXIX
the stories are usually so pa- and the explosion of the prop- representatives of leading sembly. keeping tabs on major trends
rochial and personality-based erty market. NGOs, the major lobbies and It dawned on me how most in the region.
that if you are, say, an inves- Today, Dar es Salaam is the business associations, inter- journalists in East Africa In the past, Tanzanians
tor sitting in European trying fastest growing metropolis in national financial institutions knew very little about what looked upon Kenyans as
to follow what is going in East the region. One of my first re- involved in the economic re- was happening in the three flashy people who liked os-
Africa, you will largely be baf- sponsibilities was to travel to form programme such as the countries. I began to appreci- tentatious living. But I found
fled. Because such reporting is Dar to understand and gauge World Bank and the European ate how The EastAfrican had attitudes had changed as Tan-
personality-based, the reader the news environment there. Union, members of the parlia- played a major role in devel- zania society entered a state of
needs special skills to discern I had meetings with CEOs mentary opposition and the oping a new cadre of journal- ferment. Look at the cars on
the significance in terms of of leading commercial banks, Speaker of the National As- ists, those with the remit of the city streets, for instance.
political risk.
The niche left for The Eas-
tAfrican was to popularise
issue-based economic and
business journalism while
keeping the focus on regional
factors. In terms of business
journalism, Kenya led its
neighbours. Indeed, the Na-
tion Group produced the first
daily newspaper in Kenya
dedicated to economic news:
Business Daily.
But the field remained wide
open for presentation of such
journalism in Tanzania ,Ugan-
da, Rwanda and Burundi.
When The EastAfrican
broke sto- ries, there was
always a policy
issue -- priva-
tisation scan-
dals, reform-
ing financial
systems, re-
structuring of
parastatals,
mergers and
acquisitions and
dealing with widespread dis-
tress in the region’s banking
sectors. The paper established
itself as a premium product,
especially in Uganda and Tan-
zania, concentrating on issues
that commanded the atten-
tion of influential people in
industry and government.
Even the “softer” sections of
The EastAfrican offer content
likely to be of interest to inter-
national audiences: the envi-
ronment, museums, books
and culture and in sports such
areas as horse racing, cricket
and golf.
As a weekly, there are oc-
casions when it reports on
news that is already out there.
In such circumstances, the
challenge has been to provide
background, offer analysis
and locate the story in a re-
gional context. The EastAfri-
can has also been very strong
on opinion pieces, showcas-
ing powerful opinion writers.
It sees itself as the newspaper
for thinking East Africans.
Tanzania is a challenging
environment for special-
ist writing. The country is
an economic writer’s gold
mine mainly because of the
rate at which capitalism and
commerce are spreading, the
growth of a consumer culture
XXX | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
The infamous
1988 queue voting
O
n February 22, 1988,
Kanu selected its candi-
dates for the March 21
General Election by requiring
party members to queue behind
a large photograph of their pre-
ferred leader. Voters quickly real-
ised who they were meant to vote
for, regardless of their personal
preference. Party officials used
trucks to bring in people, in-
cluding children, and provided
them with food and drink. The
length of the queue soon made
it plain who was the favoured
candidate.
Since there was a rule which
allowed any candidate who re-
ceived more than 70 per cent of
the party vote to enter Parlia-
ment unopposed, only about two-
thirds of the 188 parliamentary
seats were contested by secret
ballot on March 21. It became
known as “the selection within
the election” and “I was rigged
out” became the widely-heard
complaint of the losers.
But the losers, in a sense, be-
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
came the winners, for this farci-
cal charade created a new group Clockwise
of oppositionists, not lawyers, from right:
columnists or churchmen, but Politician JJ
hardened politicians with street- Kamotho at
fighting instincts who became the head of
the most serious focus of discon- a queue in
tent since the coup attempt. the infamous
Rigged-out heavyweights 1988 queue
such as Charles Rubia and Ken- voting.
neth Matiba were wealthy es-
tablishment figures who knew
the whereabouts of the levers of Voters queued
power. Coming together at a time behind the
of growing pressure for multi- picture of
partyism and with sympathetic their prefered
support from much of the West- candidate.
ern world, they brought about a
sea-change in the way Kenya was
governed. Anglican
When former Nairobi mayor Eldoret Bishop
Charles Rubia and wealthy busi- Alexander
nessman-politician Kenneth Muge, who
Matiba moved to avenge their died suspi-
ejection from power in the 1988 ciously.
selection process, they went for
the jugular – Article 2A of the
constitution, a 1982 amendment
which had turned Kenya into a
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010 50 GOLDEN YEARS XXXI

On February 22, 1988, Kanu selected

its candidates for the March 21 General
Election by requiring party members
to queue behind a large photograph of
their preferred leader

de jure one-party state. on the one-party state and Mati-

In a joint statement, the two
men called for repeal of 2A, for
presidential tenure to be limited
to two four-year terms and for a
public referendum on Kenya’s
political future.
They were ploughing fertile
soil. Communism was disinte-
grating in the Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe, the Cold War
was no more and Western na-
tions were reshaping their poli-
cies towards the Third World.
Aid, they made clear, was no
longer necessary to counter Sovi-
et might and in future would go
to those countries instituting plu-
ralist systems and demonstrating
respect for human rights.
In Nairobi, US Ambassador
Smith Hempstone led the of-
fensive. Uneasy at the growing
support for this new system, the
government restored the secret
ballot for election nominations
and agreed to restore security of
tenure to judges and high state
officials. But there was no retreat
ba and Rubia announced a rally
in Nairobi for July 7, 1990. Days
later, both men were arrested and
detained.
Thousands gathered at the
Kamukunji meeting ground for
an event that has gone down in
history as Saba Saba (for the sev-
enth day of the seventh month).
Violence quickly broke out and
crowds demanding the release
of Rubia and Matiba surged into
the city centre where they were
met by riot police with tear gas
and batons. Shops were looted,
properties set on fire and disor-
der spread to Central Province
towns and Kisumu. The rioting
lasted three days.
Matiba and Rubia were re-
leased a year later, both in poor
health after their detention, to
find opposition to one-party rule
gathering strength. The Forum
for the Restoration of Democra-
cy (Ford) was founded, securing
support from many of the coun-
try’s political heavyweights.

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XXXII | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
APRIL 22, 2004
Githongo lifts the lid
on Anglo-Leasing
T Nation against corruption
he bill for looting government cof-
fers during the Kanu years was
commonly set at around $3 bil-
lion, enough to pay for primary schooling
for every Kenyan child for 10 years. Thus
Kibaki’s inauguration day promise to put
an end to this perpetual scourge was re-
ceived with delight by indigenous Kenyans
and by supporting developed nations.
To wide acclaim, Kibaki appointed John
Githongo, a one-time columnist for The
EastAfrican and a former head of Trans-
parency International, as the first Perma-
nent Secretary for Governance and Ethics.
Githongo quickly realised that the leop-
ard of officialdom had not changed its
spots, however. As he industriously bored
into Narc-era deals such as the Anglo-
Leasing affair, a multi-million contract
for passport equipment, the British High
Commissioner handed the government a
dossier which he said contained evidence
of 20 corrupt procurement deals which
had cost the country $526 million.
Details of the Anglo-Leasing scandal
were exposed by the Nation.
Githongo conscientiously
talked to government officials
and cabinet ministers, secretly
taping some of them. He con-
cluded that the Anglo-Leas-
ing deal involved 18 fraudu-
lent contracts and impli-
cated several senior govern-
ment members.
Githongo said anti-cor-
ruption chief Aaron Ring-
era told him there would be
no Anglo- Leasing prosecu-
tions before the 2007 elec-
tion, if ever. He was also told by senior
government people to drop his investi-
gation into Anglo-Leasing, that “what I
was doing was dangerous to my physical
security”. Fearing for his life, Githongo
fled to London. Nation editors Wangethi
Mwangi and Joseph Odindo met him se-
cretly in London and later compiled the
first detailed account of the headline
“Anglo Leasing: The Truth”
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WAR ON GRAFT
Long history of crusades by
Nation writers exposed
the sale of university
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F
or 10 years, the Na-
tion’s editorial car-
toonist, Godfrey
Mwampembwa (popularly
known as Gado), has cari-
catured the corrupt and the
mighty strutting through
Kenyan society.
He has five characters he
considers members of his
personal “Animal Farm,” re-
calling the great George Or-
well satire of that name.
They are human but have
the mouths of pigs, leopards,
hyenas, crocodiles or wild
dogs, “animals associated
with greed”.
Like Orwell, Gado uses
the characters to depict the
wickedness, deceit and in-
difference of a sleaze soci-
ety where those with power
happily steal from and de-
fraud their compatriots.
“The five are clearly as-
sociated with excessive eat-
ing,” he says. “They encom-
pass the class that everybody
knows. I don’t have to name
names.
Rather, I use the charac-
ters.” Gado’s work is part of a
long NMG tradition to go to
battle against the swindlers
of the public entrustment.
From its earliest days, the
Nation has crusaded for an
end to corruption and crea-
tion of a just society that will
Email: inquiries@pdmkenya.com
The ruin that is Mau today: Nation exposed the devastation of the water tower.
not tolerate fraud.
Awareness of the prob-
lem may have peaked with
the infamous and devastat-
ing Goldenberg scandal,
but NMG’s flagship publica-
tions, Daily Nation and Sun-
day Nation, had worked in
the public interest since the
early 1960s -- against sus-
pected maize board thefts,
extravagance in Nairobi
City Council, heavy-hand-
edness in legislating against
freedom of expression.
Years after the multi-
million-dollar losses to the
economy caused by the
Goldenberg fraud, massive
frauds were still being per-
petrated in numerous offi-
cal areas.
The Daily Nation was the
first newspaper to high-
light the Goldenberg story,
on April 13, 1992. Its then
Business Editor, Peter Waru-
tere, wrote in a lead article
on Page One that “a com-
pany given exclusive rights
by Treasury to export gold
and jewellery is involved in
a multi-billion shillings deal
that observers describe as
‘a scandal of major propor-
tions.’”
A year later, writer Sarah
Elderkin told all in a Nation
serialization that outlined
the amazing effrontery of the
culprits. It was investigative
work of a quality which in a
country such as the United
States would probably have
won her a Pulitzer Prize.
Over many years, Nation
writers exposed the sale of
university degrees, the grab-
bing of public utilities, the
theft of land and the irregu-
lar excision of forests.
Nation Media Group
“has done a lot of good,”
says Catherine Wambui of
the Kenya Anti-Corruption
Commission.
“The Press has an enor-
mous role to play in the
fight against corruption.
People believe in the papers.
Reporters can set out the
agenda by highlighting cor-
rupt cases.”
John Githongo is Ken-
ya’s former Permanent
Secretary for Ethics
Years after the multi-million-dol-
lar losses to the economy caused
by the Goldenberg fraud, massive
frauds were still being perpetrated
in numerous offical areas.
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
who lifted the lid off Anglo-
Leasing, a multi-billion shil-
lings swindle that involved
high leaders. “The media
have been at the forefront,”
he said. Over the past seven
years in particular, their per-
formance has been sterling.”
According to Transpar-
ency International, Nation
Media Group has been im-
pressive in its steadfastness.
“Even during emotive times
and issues, the group’s faith-
fulness to ideals such as de-
mocracy, truth, balance and
justice seems steadfast,” said
TI Kenya executive director
Job Oginda.
“We have watched with
pride and gratitude as the
Nation took enormous polit-
ical, legal and financial risks
on behalf of the citizens of
Kenya. We salute your whis-
tle-blowing on issues of gov-
ernance and we appreciate
your keeping in the fore-
front seemingly mundane
but pertinent accountability
issues.”
In Kenya, fighting cor-
ruption can be frustrating.
Those implicated blandly
deny charges and often are
appointed or reappointed
to plum jobs. Courts have
mostly proven irrelevant in
dealing with major scandals,
tending to target petty theft
instead.
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010 50 GOLDEN YEARS XXXIII

The coffee and oil boom: lessons unlearned

By MUNA WAHOME Waiting
1973 - 1979

for fuel in

I
n the 1970s, Kenya’s econ- eldoret.
omy was dealt two trade NMG ARCHIVES

shocks in quick succession

and stubbornly failed to make
policy sense out of either.
The first came in October
1973 when Arab members of
the Organisation of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC)
withheld oil from the rest of
the world to protest against US
assistance to Israel during the
Yom Kippur war. The embargo
lasted up to March of 1974 and
damaged export-reliant Third
World nations like Kenya as
other OPEC members took full
advantage, sending cost-push
inflation and unemployment,
as well as trade imbalances,
spiralling out of control.
Naturally, Bretton Woods’ ously bemoaning low prices, dictator, Idi Amin, would only cash by for instance swiftly im- its currency, ushering in nearly
pressure mounted on Kenya to jumped in delight as the world ice the cake by withholding porting machinery and inter- 10 years of hyperinflation, stag-
devalue its currency and exer- prices tripled in the New Year. coffee exports in replication mediate goods. nation and high poverty rates.
cise fiscal discipline to reflect This trade shock, locally re- of the Arab boycott, trigger- Secondly, the state cranked At the change of presiden-
the real situation. That would ferred to as the “coffee boom”, ing massive smuggling of the up expenditure and made ma- cies in January 2003, the cof-
wait for another two decades, would last from 1976 to 1979. Mount Elgon coffee beans into chinery too expensive for the fee boom was a distant mem-
thanks to the second shock. In Naturally, the Kenyatta re- Kenya until the newly installed private sector. Thirdly, there ory. The number one foreign
short, Kenyans would remain gime was only too happy to President Moi put a stop to the was no effort at sterilising (de- exchange earner was third to
shielded from high prices by shelve the reforms that would lucrative trade. laying absorption into the con- tourism and tea with the cof-
a grossly overvalued currency have liberalised the economy Kenya miserably failed to sumer economy) the inflows fee industry in the firm grip
and its inefficient “infant” in- and wrought much pain on take advantage of the new- and avoiding the sudden de- of rogue directors straddling
dustries from the world. the increasingly disenchanted found wealth for a number rea- mand-pushed inflation. all its institutions. The happy
On July 17, 1975, a freezing masses. son. One, with the revenue it As fiscal discipline was de- generation of ‘coffee children’
wind blew from Antarctica and The trade imbalance was maintained price and currency stroyed in the 1980s, the world had long been superseded by
the subsequent frost destroyed overnight rectified and coffee controls and cocked a snook at had entered an era of falling poverty-stricken Mungiki ad-
at least two-thirds of coffee ber- growing areas were soon boom- anyone who suggested reform. commodity prices and Kenya herents in the prime growing
ries in southern Brazil. Coun- ing with construction of new In turn, the private sector had would pay the ultimate price. of Central Kenya.
tries including Kenya, previ- concrete houses. The Ugandan no capacity to absorb the new In 1993, Kenya agreed to float

The board of directors, staff and entire membership of

Nation Staff Sacco
wishes to congratulate Nation Media Group as they celebrate their
50th anniversary.
We are proud to be associated with you. We thank you for the support
you have accorded us for past years.
Long live Nation!
We offer the following services to our Sacco members:
Loans products
• Ufanisi Loan • Normal Loan
• Refinancing Loan • School Fees Loan
• Emergency Loan • Instant Loan
Savings products
• School Fees Savings Scheme
• Special Savings Scheme
FOSA products – opening very soon.
On behalf of the board of directors, I once more say congratulations for
the solid achievements!

Peter Wilson Ochola

Chairman
Nation Staff Sacco
XXXIV | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
RECOLLECTIONS
How government
1965
spied on Nation
in bid for control
The idea of buying shares was floated
during an intelligence briefing but this
was abandoned after some time
By JOHN KAMAU
G
overnment efforts
to dominate, intim-
idate and control
Nation newspapers
in the founding years — to the
extent buy a controlling inter-
est in the group — are recorded
in declassified archival docu-
ments from the 1960s.
Nation journalists were spied
on under the first Minister for
Information, Broadcasting
and Tourism in independent
Kenya, Achieng’ Oneko, and
some of his successors. Editors
were lectured and threatened.
At a Kenya Intelligence Com-
mittee briefing, buying shares
in Nation Newspapers was
floated as a means of control-
ling a group that was demon-
strating persistent independ-
ence. The idea was not pur-
sued, presumably because the
authorities realised the news-
papers’ content would then be
seen as evident propaganda.
While the East African
Standard was considered ac-
ceptable to the Jomo Kenyatta
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
ABOVE: Peter government, the Nation Mboya and Oginga Odinga. tion, kept watch on the work
Gachathi, PS group resisted being treated A brief written by the of several journalists, investi-
in the Minis- as a semi-official arm of de- strongly left-wing Oneko gated their background and
try of Infor- velopment and this worried described the Nation as “re- opened files on them. Some
mation, kept and angered government of- actionary” and a paper that of the files are now declas-
watch on the ficials unused to free Press had “no place in an African sifed and are available at the
work of sever- traditions. state”. Kenya National Archives, the
al journalists Attacks on the Nation also Intelligence officers and national depository of gov-
and opened reflected fault lines between the Kiambaa-born Peter Ga- ernment documents.
files on them. the right and left in govern- chathi, Permanent Secretary In one confidential letter,
ment, represented by Tom in the Ministry of Informa- Gachathi asked the minis-
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
Kanyotu kept his eye trained on journalists
try’s Senior Press Officer, A.J.
(Tony) Hughes, to check the
recent writings of John Du-
moga, foreign editor of the
Nation. The feisty Ghanaian
had crossed Kwame Nkru-
mah’s regime in Accra and
become a hate figure in Kenya
government circles. Gachathi
wanted him deported.
In his reply dated July 29,
1965, Hughes wrote: “You
have asked me to check the
recent writings by John Du-
moga. In the last month, I
have only traced one article
appearing under his byline.
This was on Saturday, July 17,
headed “And the Nation For-
eign Editor says Prove It”. This
was a criticism by Dumoga of
the white minority govern-
ment in Rhodesia.”
This was three months be-
fore the November 11, 1965,
unilateral declaration of in-
dependence by Ian Smith,
the Rhodesian Prime minis-
ter. But Gachathi appeared
to suspect that Dumoga had
penned an article criticising
the Organisation of African
Unity, predecessor of the Af-
rican Union.
Hughes went on: “I under-
stand you have reason to be-
lieve that the story on Page 1 of
the Nation of July 20 headed
“OAU Facing Crash Crisis,”
bylined Nation Foreign Edi-
tor, was in fact written by him
(Dumoga).
“I do not feel that either of
these articles warrant action.
I do believe that past articles
by Dumoga have been object-
able (sic). I propose that I keep
watch on the Nation from now
on and look out for anything
objectable by this writer.”
Intelligence, under James
Kanyotu, was also keeping an
eye on journalists. In one of
his files, Kanyotu has a note
on Dumoga, who was even-
tually deported. Filed under
“Miscellaneous (Secret)”, the
note summarises Dumoga
(wrongly spelled Demuga) as
follows: “Anti-government,
anti-CPP and anti-Nkrumah.
Went to California for train-
ing as a journalist. Before pro-
ceeding to USA, was on the
staff of a reactionary paper
known as Ashanti Pioneer.
Subsequently, he worked for
the Daily Graphic,which at
the time belonged to Cecil
King, who owns the Daily Mir-
A brief written by the strongly left-wing
Oneko described the Nation as “reaction-
ary” and a paper that had “no place in an
African state”.
50 GOLDEN YEARS XXXV
ror in Britain. It was when the It was not the first time that Hughes wrote: “I think you raised too. In March 1965, Gui- by using some article which is
Ghana Government bought Ng’weno would hear from should try and have our agreed nean diplomat Barry Bocar Biro completely contrary to the in-
the Daily Graphic that he was Hughes. On February 14, meeting as soon as possible to complained about a Nation arti- terests of Kenya.”
offered the scholarship to the 1964, Hughes wrote to the Na- discuss these matters and per- cle and Hughes alerted Oneko: On April 13, senior editors
USA.” tion’s first African editor, tell- haps to arrange for you to see “I agree with the substance of of Nation were summoned be-
Hughes, who was British, ing him that the paper’s tone (the PS) and the minister,” said the complaint. All too often, fore Minister Oneko, who read
was the Standard’s leading was “completely inappropri- the letter. There is no record of newspapers of the Nation se- them the riot act, though his
political writer in the run-up ate to the conditions of Kenya Ng’weno’s reply. ries spoil their other attempts comments were never publicly
to independence, gradually today”. Diplomatic complaints were to work with the government reported.
becoming more personally
associated with Kanu and its
bid for power. Last year, back
in Britain, he wrote a letter to
this writer saying he played
his part in uniting the various
forces in a Kenyatta govern-
ment torn apart by Cold War
politics.
The Cold War, in particular
American involvement in Vi-
etnam, was a polarising issue
in Kenya’s power politics in
the early 1960s.
In one of his letters to
Oneko, Hughes refers to an
item headed “Tragedy of Vi-
etnam Refugees”. The Nation
had apparently used a picture
of American soldiers helping
refugees. This did not go down
well with the left-wingers in
the Kenyatta government.
Hughes wrote: “As far as I
am aware, our government
has not stated its attitude
on the overall Vietnam situ-
ation nor has it mentioned
upon any particular aspects
of the war. By the use of such
feature articles the Daily Na-
tion appears to be attempting
to influence public opinion in
Kenya in a particular direc-
tion, that is to say, in favour of
the American position.
“While the Daily Nation
has a right according to the
freedom of the Press to take
what view it wishes of the Vi-
etnam situation, it has a duty
to bear in mind Kenya’s non-
aligned policy in regard to the
cold war.
“Moreover, if it wishes to
declare support for the Amer-
ican position it should come
out in the open and do so in-
stead of using these under-
hand means by planted stories
of how nice the Americans are
to refugees. Why not balance
this report with something
from the Viet Cong about the
American news of napalm and
poison gas?
“I therefore propose that
the Editor of the Nation (Hi-
lary Ng’weno) be informed of
our views on this particular
issue,” said the lengthy letter.
XXXVI | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
The terror that
1991
FEBRUARY
surrounded the
murder of Ouko
Caleb Atemi recalls the dangers of
covering the story of the killing of
the foreign affairs minister
T
elling the story of Dr
Robert John Ouko’s
disappearance and
subsequent death
placed me in the direct path of
his unseen assassins.
On February 15, 1990, news
Editor Mutegi Njau was on
the line: The minister for for-
eign affairs had vanished from
his Koru home. At 8.30 the fol-
lowing morning, sweating and
trembling, I was staring at the
minister’s smouldering body.
I had left for his farm at Got
Alila from the Nation’s Kisumu
bureau where I was a reporter.
Squads of security men were
combing the dry grassland
and I wandered away from a
group of General Service Unit
officials.
Afew minutes later, I found
myself paralysed and staring at
the smouldering body. Sudden-
ly a police truncheon landed on
my face. Bleeding profusely, my
instincts glued me to the scene.
I knew I was the only journalist
who had seen the remains and I
had to tell the story through the
newspaper..
At 6.30 pm, as darkness de-
scended on the eerie hillside,
a helicopter carrying the Per-
manent Secretary in charge
of Internal Security, Hezekiah
Oyugi, and Commissioner of
Police Phillip Kilonzo landed.
With them was the Chief Gov-
ernment Pathologist Dr Stanley
Ndaka Kaviti.
The trio summoned report-
ers to confirm what we had all
been waiting for, the identity of
the body found at the foot of
Got Alila hill. “Yes, this is Ouko’s
body. You can now go and write
your story,” Oyugi told us.
The pathologist took one
look at the burnt body, shook
his head and concluded that
the minister had committed su-
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
icide. The other two concurred and the official version. A Kenya Air
with smiles. On the Sunday that my story, I Force Puma
I had observed the weather started receiving death threats: helicopter is
and vegetation at Got Alila and “You think you are the one who loaded with
it was dry and hot. I knew that knows how to describe scenes the charred
if the body had been burned on in English? We shall deal with remains of
the spot, the fire would have you. Tutakufanya kama Ouko” Doctor Rob-
spread through out the hillside. (We shall deal with you like ert Ouko.
I stated in my story to Na- Ouko).” Violence engulfed Kis- Inset, the
tion that the fire which con- umu for days. front page of
sumed an adult man only burnt the Nation
a small portion of grass below Mr Atemi was a reporter at Na- reporting the
his trunk. University students tion in 1988 to 1999 and is now story.
quickly spotted the contradic- a communication consultant NMG ARCHIVES
tions between my reporting and biographer.
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
Nation editors down the five decades
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10
Massachusetts, and had set up
The Weekly Review and after I
had returned from a three-year
tour of duty in Dar es Salaam
– Hilary hired me as his assistant
editor (The two Nairobi dailies
had rejected me because of my
“Tanzanian communism.”) Hilary
was as engaged by the Cold War
as were Githii and Henry Gathi-
gira of The East African Standard
and I still have the hand-written
note in which he banned me
from using what he said were
“Communist stock phrases,” in-
cluding “imperialism.”
It was Joe Rodrigues who
enabled me to return to Nation
House in 1978. He had taken over
a storm-tossed newspaper from
Githii after the latter had finally
stormed out in acrimony and
recrimination. Joe, a long-ago
immigrant from India, was the
quintessential newspaperman.
An accomplished reporter, a
skilled sub-editor, a dab hand at
design, he had been the Nation’s
backbone as managing editor
under all the above editors-in-
chief.
He was the man who made the
paper happen. And in the top
editorial job, he was different be-
cause he never involved himself
in petty partisan politics.
He was also the first editor-in-
chief who was ready to help out
a hard-pressed chief sub-editor.
Joe told me that he needed only
my skills in English and page
layout. I knew the Board was
against my hiring because of my
supposed left-wing views, so Joe
compromised by undertaking not
to allow me to do any writing.
It was thus under Joe the work-
horse that I moved from editorial
copy reviser to become the Daily
Nation’s first black chief sub-
editor, taking over from John
McHaffie. Sadly, Joe died in
Nairobi early in the 1980s, soon
after he had retired from Nation
House.
He was replaced by Peter
Mwaura and thus began one
of the most tumultuous eras in
the company’s history. Peter was
probably the most perceptive
and socially conscious editorial
chief up to that time. His draw-
back was that having spent his
time in communication theory
at the School of Journalism of
the University of Nairobi, he
had no experience in newspa-
per production. His problems
were compounded when Dugal
Nisbet-Smith arrived from The
Times in London as managing
director of the holding company.
In 1981, I was among those who
resigned amidst the internal con-
vulsions thus occasioned.
In 1983, Peter Mwaura was re-
placed by George Mbugguss, an-
other workhorse who rose from
the ranks to become managing
editor of the Kiswahili Taifa
newspapers.
George it was who in 1984
convinced the board to hire me
back, this time as associate editor
to write editorials, take charge of
the commentary pages, edit the
letters and the Op-Ed section.
George Mbugua (aka “Mbug-
guss”) was a man of a special
intelligence.
With only eight years of for-
mal education and having joined
the newsroom as a messenger,
he picked up enough reporting
technique and enough English to
pilot the Kiswahili papers quiet-
ly through turbulent times when
the English-language products
were coming frequently under
fire.
50 GOLDEN YEARS XXXVII
In 1988, Joe Kadhi (as his
deputy) and I (by then manag-
ing editor of the daily) became
his chief lieutenants. The three
of us would lock ourselves up in
George’s office for long hours dis-
cussing the news, rewriting page-
one stories, suggesting the Page
One lead headline and designing
the page. It was perhaps the hap-
piest and most productive period
in the Nation’s history.
Joe Rodrigues accomplished reporter, a skilled sub-
editor, a dab hand at design, he had been the Nation’s
backbone as managing editor under all the above
editors-in-chief.
Unfortunately, it did not last.
Later the same year, President
Moi invited me to take over from
a Briton called Ted Graham as ed-
itor-in-chief of The Kenya Times.
The challenge was irresistible for
a man like me whose career was
mostly playing second fiddle in
newsrooms.
In 1991, I retired from day-to-
day newspaper work.
That same year, Mbugguss and
Kadhi retired and their places
were taken by Wangethi Mwan-
gi and Tom Mshindi. In 2000,
Wangethi invited me to the new
Nation Centre in Kimathi Street
to take charge of editorial qual-
ity control.
Wangethi -- whom I had
“poached” from The Standard
and who proved an excellent sub-
editor, chief sub-editor and man-
aging editor -- was now Group
Managing Editor, soon to be
prommoted to the newly created
position of Editorial Director.
Perhaps Wangethi was the
shrewdest of them all. As the
group’s internal “stabiliser” and
external “shock-absorber,” he pre-
sided over the company’s most
revolutionary period in terms of
capital expansion, technological
composition and relationship
with the political regime.
Throughout most of his Nation
leadership, the larger nation itself
was in the throes of upheaval, the
demand for multi-partyism prov-
ing, when it did eventually come,
to be almost unmanageable.
XXXVIII | 50 GOLDEN YEARS DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010

Terrorists strike at the heart of Nairobi

The attacks were attributed
to local members of the
Egyptian Islamic Jihad

I
nternational terrorism
reached East Africa on Au-
gust 7, 1998 when truck
bomb assassins linked to
Osama Bin Laden simultaneous-
ly blew up the American embas-
sies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam
– precursors to the 2001 Twin
Towers outrage in New York and
subsequent tube and bus explo-
sions in London, and train blasts
in Spain.
The Tanzanian bomb killed 11
people and injured 85. In Nairo-
bi, some 270 people were killed,
at least 5,000 injured and scores Clockwise
buried under masonry. Twelve from right:
Americans were killed, including The bomb
the Nairobi consul-general and brought down
his son, but the vast majority of Ufundi Cop-
victims were locals. The injured erative Build-
included Kanu secretary-general ing; the scene
Joseph Kamotho, who was visit- of the bomb;
ing an embassy official when the President Moi
explosion occurred. at the site
The attacks, attributed to local of the blast
members of the Egyptian Islam- in August
ic Jihad, brought Bin Laden to 1988; vehi-
American attention for the first cle destroyed
time and the FBI placed him on and members
its Ten Most Wanted list. of the Israe-
Investigators reported that the li Defence
bombs were massive, 2,000-lb de- Force, who
vices made of 400-500 cylinders took part in
of TNT about the size of soda cans. the rescue
They were detonated by suicide effort.
volunteers.
In response to the bombings,
President Bill Clinton ordered
a series of cruise missile strikes
against targets in Sudan and
Afghanistan. One of the strikes
destroyed a pharmaceutical fac-
tory which made many of Sudan’s
medications. Apparently unre-
liable intelligence had claimed
chemical weapons were devel-
oped there.
Twenty-one people were indict-
ed for various alleged roles in the
East African bombings. Four are
serving life in prison without pa-
role, four were reported killed in
Afghanistan or Pakistan and one
died of leukaemia while under
arrest.
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010 50 GOLDEN YEARS XXXIX

and Dar in coordinated bomb attacks

US secra-
tary of state
Madeline
Albright
with foreign
affairs min-
ister Bonaya
Godana and
US envoy
Prudence
Bushnell
remember
victims of the
bomb blast.

The pain of loosing a loved one

is reflected on the faces of Ken-
yans at the August 7th Memo-
rial in Nairobi.
XL | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
Nation’s battle for a
TV broadcast licence
T I
he Years Between 1990 and paper presented as handsome
2000 saw dynamic expan- and indisputably authoritative.
sion in the Nation group: a Little more than a year later,
new headquarters in downtown the International Press Institute
Nairobi, a new upmarket weekly, described it as “one of the best, if
The EastAfrican, a $12 million not the best, of regional newspa-
(Sh750 million) press hall on the pers in sub-Saharan Africa”.
city’s outskirts with the latest in It was 1991 when the group
printing technology, entry to the took the first step on a long and
internet and, crucially, a move arduous journey into the elec-
into the broadcast media. tronic media by applying for a
Capital expenditure soared to licence to broadcast. The govern-
$12 million (Sh665 million) from ment response was negative, pre-
$1.6 million (Sh93 million). sumably because of the Nation’s
The group’s new home was the independent editorial line, so
custom-built, multi-storey Na- chief executive Wilfred Kiboro
tion Centre on Kimathi Street organised the purchase of a con-
designed by Danish architect trolling interest in East Africa
Henning Larsen. The new build- Television Network Ltd., (EATN),
ing was owned by Industrial Pro- which already had television and
motion Building Ltd., an affiliate radio licences.
of the Aga Khan Fund for Eco- The government promptly
nomic Development, in which cancelled EATN’s licences on
the Nation had a 20 per cent grounds there was a dispute
interest. The newspapers took about the transfer of shares to the
four floors and their neighbours Nation. There ensued a series of
included prestige tenants such as court hearings, postponements,
the Nairobi Stock Exchange and statements and objections which
Diamond Trust Bank. Kiboro characterised as “a merry-
Staffers who had spent years go-round of delay”.
in the stuffy, crammed, chaotic Seven years after its first appli-
confines of Nation House were cation, the Nation was awarded
delighted to move to their new TV and radio licences, but for
quarters in a light-filled, spa- Nairobi only, not countrywide.
cious, airy, noise-controlled, no- Negotiations ensued about fre-
smoking and air-conditioned quencies, microwave links, the
ambience. siting of transmitters and the
A major boost to journalistic strength of signals. As the mil-
morale at the time was editor lennium moved to a close, the
Joseph Odindo’s creation, The group restructured, partly to re-
EastAfrican, the group’s first sig- flect its entry into broadcasting,
nificant new editorial product and changed its name to Nation
for many years. Devised to meet Media Group Ltd. A subsidiary Dogged pur-
growing interest in the East Af- company, Africa Broadcasting suit of licences
rican region at a time when re- Ltd., set up to handle TV and led to radio
lations between Kenya, Uganda radio, was merged into a division- and televi-
and Tanzania were warmer than al structure within NMG and Na- sion stations
they had been for years, the news- tion TV (later NTV) was born. in Nairobi
and Kam-
pala. Sheila
Mwanyigah
The government response was negative,
presents a
presumably because of the Nation’s programme
independent editorial line for EasyFM.
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
One step at a time
T WAS THREE YEARS
AFTER THE birth of the Na-
tion that Betty Friedan rocked
the world with her book, The
Feminine Mystique, which gave
birth to the second wave of the
women’s liberation movement.
Though her little polemic spoke
to the politics of gender equality
in the mainstream of American
society, its message resonated
with women worldwide.
According to women journal-
ists working for the Nation -- and
this can be extrapolated world-
wide -- the issues about career
advancement and equality that
Friedan tackled in The Feminine Name: Rita Tinina Name: Wangui Maina
Mystique remain as relevant in Position: Senior Reporter, NTV Position: Business Reporter,
our newsrooms today as they did Joined: October 2000 Business Daily
in the 1960s. Beat: General with interest in en- Joined: September 2006
“It’s true what they say, a vironmental reporting Beat: Tourism and Transport
woman has to work twice as hard Memorable Stories: “Troubled Memorable Stories: Covering
to be thought of as half as good as Waters”, a documentary feature the aviation sector, especially the
her male counterpart,” says Carole about the Nairobi River that took Kenya Airways crash in Doula,
Mandi, who rose from sub-editor about three weeks to put together, Cameroon and its harrowing im-
at NMG in 1995 to become Pub- and shed new light on this topic pact on families. The global finan-
lisher with East African Maga- cial crisis was an eye-opener.
zines. “This pressure to perform,
to get that MBA, to work long
hours creates conflict in a wom-
an’s work-life balance.”
Certainly, there have been
vast, attitudinal changes towards
women in the African workplace
over the last five decades. But
Friedan’s struggle to bring women
“into the mainstream” remains in
contention in our countries.
Nation Media Group struggles
with the organisational chal-
lenge of promoting and retaining
women in substantive positions.
The debate is alive and passion-
ate in other Kenyan newspapers,
much as it is in wider society. The Name: Lucy Oriang’ Name: Njeri Rugene
issue is not whether the Nation Joined: May 1983 Joined: 1992
treats men and women differ- Position: Columnist and former Position: Parliamentary Editor
ently. The company has an equal Managing Editor (Magazines). Memorable story: Exposing
employment policy and boasts of Memorable stories: corruption in Parliament where
one of the most liberal and con- Ms Oriang has been a strong voice legislators were being paid to ask
structive corporate minds in Ken- in championing women’s rights in questions. One MP disputed the
yan society. the media and is known for writ- story and asked that we name the
The issue is whether there is ing that pulls no punches when people involved, but the Speaker
a systematic bias that is sympto- it comes to bad behaviour in the is yet to deliver a ruling.
matic of our society and our times. corridors of power.
Why, historically, have women at
Nation newspapers been under-
represented in editorial positions
of influence -- managing editor ing for another husband, only to woman on the Board of Directors.
level and above? return for ‘burial’ because, some- Editorial Director Joseph Odindo
Granted, many women are how, Number One was the best.” said: “The idea is to strike a bal-
senior sub-editors, reporters, col- The fact that they are welcomed ance between attracting, retaining
umnists and photographers. One back and allocated other duties and promoting the right women
of them is Dorothy Kweyu, who proves they were good, after all. journalists and affirmative action.
holds a senior position on the The following question arises, she If you look at the Media Lab, there
copy desk as a revise editor. She says: “If the Nation has as many is a very healthy balance between
has a 31-year association with the good women journalists as men, male and female journalists,
Nation, almost half of those years why are its women not rewarded and that’s the way things ought
on active service, and feels strong- with the biggest jobs in the news- to go.”Mr Odindo said the com-
ly about the subject. room? Many of them end up in pany had moved to even things
“Most great women of the Na- areas such as women issues and up through the MediaLab, one of
tion have been forced to seek sol- entertainment”. Kenya’s most competitive training
ace elsewhere,” she says,. “Some In all of top management, there programmes. It recruits the best
beat a retreat like the proverbial is only one woman, the Human university students from graduat-
Luhyia woman, who goes look- Resources director, and there is no ing classes in Kenya, Uganda, and
 DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
e, women climb the ladder
Name: Kui Kinyanjui
Position: Business Reporter,
Business Daily
Joined: September 2006
Beat: ICT
Memorable Stories: Covering
the rise of a new breed of ICT en-
trepreneurs. I am pleased the one-
off project later drove the devel-
opment of BD¹s weekly pullout,
called Digital Business.
Name: Millicent Mwololo
Position: Features writer, Living
Magazine
Joined: July 2007
Beat: Features
Memorable Stories: I still hear
the cry of this widow and her
eight malnourished children at
their home in Makuyu, Kam-
biti location, Maragua district. I
metthem in January 2008 at the
height of drought and famine.
Tanzania and gives them one year
of in-house training and on-the-
job experience on full pay. These
journalists are then deployed to
various outlets throughout NMG.
And certainly progress has been
made. When the question of
women’s promotion was raised
in the 1970s and 1980s, someone
would always raise the question:
“How do you expect a mother to
leave her house at midnight to go
report on a fire in Mathare?”
The 1990s and this side of the
century have brought changes
that have been reflected in NMG
newsrooms. In Nairobi, Dorothy
Name: Joan Pereruan
Position: Photo Editor
Joined: 2004
Beat: Photography for Daily Na-
tion, Taifa, Business Daily, Sunday
Nation, Saturday Nation and The
EastAfrican
Memorable Stories: The exhu-
mation of a 72-year-old woman
killed and buried by her last-born
son in a shallow grave.
Name: Njeri Kihang¹ah
Position: Features correspond-
ent, Daily Nation
Joined: June 2008
Beat: Features (entertainment
and careers)
Memorable Stories: How
US rapper Jay-Z and others weave
Masonic symbolism into their
music and
merchandise.
Kweyu became the first female
news editor, Catherine Gicheru
served as an investigative re-
porter and later as news editor,
Njeri Rugene is parliamentary
editor, Lucy Oriang’ rose from
copy editor to managing editor,
Ruth Lumembe was editor of
Living and Rhoda Orengo edits
Saturday Magazine.
In Tanzania, Sakina Datoo
was managing editor and Usia
Mkoma news editor at The Citi-
zen, while Betty Dindi was ap-
pointed managing editor at NTV
Uganda.
Management points out that
Name: Sara Bakata
Position: Deputy Chief-Sub,
The EastAfrican in charge of the
Magazine
Joined: April 2002
Most memorable moment:
Every week brings new challeng-
es on the sub’s desk and there has
never been a shortage of hilarious
moments from copy as well as col-
leagues!
Name: Ruth Lubembe
Current Position: Editor- Quality
desk, Daily Nation
Joined: August 2004
Beat: Features
Memorable Stories: As editor
of Living magazine, I met child-
less couples trying desperately to
have children. These stories made
me realise that family really is at
the heart of everything.
these appointments stem from
a decision aggressively to re-
cruit and mentor young women
journalists either through direct
hires, internships, or NMG’s an-
nual training and general man-
agement career rotation pro-
gramme.
The papers give major play to
stories such as the UN conference
on women in 1985. Topics such as
poverty, sexual violence, health,
education and female circumci-
sion continue to drive coverage.
Lucy Oriang introduced the In-
ternational Women’s Day special
project into the Nation in 2000,
50 GOLDEN YEARS XLI
Name: Dorothy Kweyu
Position: Staff writer-Revise Edi-
tor, Daily Nation
Joined: February 1979-Novem-
ber 1987; December 2003 to date
Memorable stories: A riveting
pullout on the malpractices of a
major tobacco firm, and irrespon-
sible pharmaceutical firms that
were selling to Kenyans drugs
that had been banned elsewhere.
Name: Adhyambo Odera
Position: Buzz Magazine Editor
Joined: 2005
Memorable moment: When the
Nation Media Group launched its
culture change programme. The
initiative shows what NMG as a
company stands for. Ever since
its launch the positive energy
around the newsroom has been
amazing.
which she registers as one of her
main achievements.
Many women join journalism
straight from university and start
families early in their careers.
“It’s doubly challenging to bal-
ance journalism with a family
since the job can take over your
life with its sometimes unholy
hours, travel and risk,” observes
Kathleen Openda, once a current
affairs editor with the Nation.
“Many women grow up and
have this ‘I’ll find a rich guy to
sort me out’ plan in their heads
and therefore do not pursue their
careers with the zeal of their male
Name: Mary Wasike
Position: Revise Editor, Daily
Nation
Joined: October 2005
Memorable Stories: When
First Lady Lucy Kibaki was in
the building. It was scary because
of all the security people she had
come with. While she was still
around, a story was being written,
which she knew nothing about.
Name: Mejumaa Mbaruku
Joined: March 2003,
Position: Editorial graphic de-
signer
Most memorable story: Design-
ing the page of ‘My brother’s keep-
er’ by Millicent Mwololo. It ran in
Living Magazine about a woman’s
experience of having to take care
of her brother who suffers from a
rare condition.
counterparts, developing net-
works, looking for opportunities
for self-development.”
Human Resources Director
Mwikali Muthiani says she would
be happy to see more women tak-
ing senior positions. But the rules
will not be bent to favour a female
candidate.
“ We are an equal opportunity
employer but based on merit.
I, for one, would feel bad to be
picked for a position just because
I am a woman, so I extend the
same courtesy to others.p
XLII | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
RECOLLECTIONS
Covering culture in Kenya:
A privilege and a paradox
Cultural controversy
provided the grounds
for healthy, constructive
debate in a democracy
By MARGARETTA WA GACHERU
C
overing culture in Kenya
for nearly a quarter centu-
ry – almost half the length
of the Daily Nation’s life – was
both a privilege and a paradox.
It was a privilege because I
interviewed everyone from play-
wrights and poets to pop stars,
politicians and prime ministers.
Of the playwrights, I recall the
late Robert Serumaga and John
Ruganda as well as Francis Im-
buga, David Mulwa, and even
Gunter Grass. Poets included
Okot p’Bitek and Grace Ogot, and
the pop stars were Mick Jagger,
lead singer of the Rolling Stones,
and Lauren Hill of Fugees fame,
among others. From differing
areas of achievement were Prime
Minister Gro Brundtlund of Nor-
way, paleontologists Richard
and Meave Leakey, Mwai Kibaki
when he was a government min-
ister, and preacher and social ac-
tivist the Rev Jesse Jackson.
Indeed, just as celebrity sports
star Serena Williams came to
Kenya recently, so back then we
got used to seeing Hollywood
stars Meryl Streep and Robert
Redford on a regular basis.
Since culture is all about ideas,
I learned early on (while still a
student at University of Nairobi
studying literature with Ngugi
wa Thiong’o) that it is an arena of
clash and conflict. Cultural con-
troversy provided the grounds
for healthy, constructive debate
in a democracy.
I covered theatre and the
performing arts for the Daily &
Sunday Nation and The EastAfri-
can; I also wrote for The Nairobi
Times and the Kenya Weekly Re-
view, publications started by the
Nation’s first African Editor, Hi-
lary Ng’weno. I wrote for short-
Most Kenyans believed theatre was for
the elite, the expatriates, the Europeans;
it had little or nothing to do with them.
lived Kenya magazines like Men
Only and Trend, and I even ed-
ited my own magazine for Wom-
en’s World Banking.
I came to write about Kenyan
theatre through my experience of
acting with the University of Nai-
robi’s Free Travelling Theatre and
then with the Kenyan contribu-
tion to FESTAC in 1976.
I played an unpleasant colonial
memsahib in The Trial of Dedan
Kimathi co-authored by Ngugi
and Micere Mugo. Through
those encounters with the stage,
I came to appreciate the vital role
that theatre can play not only in
entertaining people but in rous-
ing their awareness of important
social issues.
Ever since the late 1960s when
Ngugi helped to spearhead a
cultural revolution in Nairobi
ABOVE: Charles Fleming (Iam
Mbugua) is surprised by Jayne’s
(Kiruu Mbugguss) forthright
manner as his brother Robert
(Steve Muturi) enjoys every
moment of it in ‘Don’t Misun-
derstand Me’ - Phoenix Players.
LEFT: Cultural activities are
fascinating for some, but many
others feel they are not a cru-
cial issue in their lives.
NMG ARCHIVES
University, seeing the English
Department transformed into
a Literature Department with
its core curriculum being indig-
enous Kenyan oral literature, I
was aware that the issue of “de-
colonising the mind” would be
central in understanding the
role of theatre in society.
For if the colonial experience
was meant to teach Kenyans
their subordinate place in society,
decolonising the mind is meant
to restore a social equilibrium,
self-assurance and sense of self-
respect and dignity.
For instance, until the Free
Travelling Theatre began staging
African scripts and addressing
local issues from the early 70s,
most Kenyans believed theatre
was for the elite, the expatri-
ates, the Europeans; it had lit-
tle or nothing to do with them.
But now local thespians like
Imbuga, Mulwa, Ruganda, and
even Ngugi and Micere, began
examining issues of class, race,
ethnicity and Kenyan history
which had never been addressed
artistically before.
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
How I got
my job at
the Nation
By DOROTHY KWEYU
M
y early years at
Nation were re-
markable in vari-
ous ways. As a staff writer
for Sunday Nation, I inves-
tigated and wrote stories
assigned by managing edi-
tor Alfred Araujo, and later
Chege Mbitiru, who was
foreign editor when I first
joined the media group.
Many a time, however, the
assignments came directly
from the editor-in-chief,
Mr Joe Rodrigues, who had
hired me in the most unlike-
ly manner after a 10-month
stint as a trainee feature
writer/reporter with an in-
house magazine publisher.
A fomer colleague, Seth
Musisi, had been nagging
me to quit for quite a while
after he landed a job at the
newly-launched Nairobi
Times.
“Dee,” he would say, “why
don’t you just call Mr Rod-
rigues? I know that if I leave
you here, you will continue
wasting yourself.”
Fed up with my dithering,
Seth called the Nation and
after a brief exchange with
a person I later learned was
Mrs Irene Karanja, he passed
the phone to me saying: “Mr
Rodrigues’ secretary!”
Caught flatfooted, I asked
to talk to the editor-in-chief,
and Wairimu, as I was to
call her ever after, promptly
gave me her boss, who asked
brusquely after I had intro-
duced myself: “Do you want
a job?”
I hadn’t expected him to
be so direct and I mumbled:
“Not really, but something in
that line.”
“When do you want to
come?”
“At your convenience, sir,”
I replied.
When I showed up at Na-
tion House on Tom Mboya
Street on that February 21,
1979, I found a panel made
up of Mr Rodrigues, Daily
Nation managing editor
Mr Joe Kadhi, and person-
nel manager John Karungu
waiting for me.
After a brief and lively in-
terview, Mr Rodrigues told
me to put in my application
in writing. two days later
— February 24 — the Nation
drafted my first contract.
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
How we made ‘The EastAfrican’ a reality
By NICK CHITTY
T
he first challenge I en-
countered during my
10 years with the Na-
tion was to train the systems
staff. They were only seen on
the editorial or advertising
floors if there was a problem,
but they became the backbone
of the publishing operation.
It is hard to imagine now
but in those early years we
were right on the cutting edge
of high-technology newspaper
production. Some of our proc-
esses and practices were not
even being attempted in Lon-
don’s Fleet Street or by British
provincial newspapers at that
time, either because of restric-
tive union practices or lack of
investment. Nation had a far-
sighted management policy
that saw where the technol-
ogy was going and decided
early on to be part of it.
A huge investments was
made in the new Nation Cen-
tre and at roughly the same
time, a new printing press.
It is pleasing to see, even
after my time, that there is
still that far-sighted approach.
New editorial and advertising
systems have been installed
and of course the transition
has been made to publishing
online. I now sit in an arm-
chair in London with my lap-
top and read about Kenya and
PROFILE
I have enjoyed my
work for 40 years
N
oorbegum Kana-
ni, supervisor of
the photo library
at Nation Media Group,
has seen it all, at least
from the time the Nation
was just 10 years old.
Ms Kanani joined the
classified advertising de-
partment in 1970 and now
ranks as the company’s
longest serving staff mem-
ber. She will celebrate her
40th year with the Nation
in October.
From the advertising
department she was ap-
pointed photo library
supervisor. Among the
pictures in her custody
are many going back 50
years and beyond, some of
which have been used in
the rest of East Africa merely
by logging on!
To my mind, the The EastA-
frican was the most adventur-
ous, exciting and rewarding
project I had the pleasure to
be involved with. I had been
doing some work on new
publications in the UK at the
Independent and The Cor-
respondent but I had never
had to plan from scratch how
to launch a new publication
from a systems point of view.
So, when we learned that a
new regional-oriented paper
was being researched we had
to think fast on how we could
achieve this goal.
The most important aspect
for any new publication is the
design. If people don’t like the
look of your new paper they
won’t buy it. A great deal of
thought was put into this and
design consultants were hired.
The onus was for the systems
team to interpret the various
design specimens.
Muumbo Muyanga was as-
signed this task and did a he-
roic job, spending many long
hours with The editor, Joe Od-
indo’s editorial team and de-
signers, putting the finishing
touches to various dummies.
Every section of the paper was
scrutinised, revised and then
done again. Finally, it would
go down as an acceptable
dummy paper.
this souvenir issue.
How does it feel to be
with one company for half
a lifetime? “I have enjoyed
working with the Nation
for all those years,” she
says. Born in Homa Bay,
she has two sons and two
grandchildren. Her hus-
band died in 1995.
50 GOLDEN YEARS XLIII
Eventually, a mountain of of other minor problems to laam, Kampala and Nairobi. 1991 to 2001. He now lives
dummies was whittled down overcome in the run-up to the Luckily, Malcolm Jarrett had in London and runs a prop-
to the last dozen or so. These launch. One of the Atex com- been with us before and man- erty maintenance business.
were then laid out on the puter software programmers aged to get it all working. He is married to Kenya-born
board-room table for a final was asked to come over and Medrine who also worked for
choice to be made. get up the telecommunica- Nick Chitty was Systems the Nation, and they have
There were a multitude tions link between Dar-es-Sa- Operations Manager from two boys.
Kenya Investment Authority
VISION “To be a World Class Agency in Marketing Kenya as the First Choice Investment Destination.”
MISSION “To Provide Exceptional Services to Attract, Facilitate, Retain and Expand Investments in Kenya.”
Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest) is a statutory body established through an Act of Parliament Investment Promotion Act
No. 6 of 2004 with a mandate of promoting investments in Kenya. It is responsible for facilitating the implementation of new
investment projects, providing After Care services for new and existing investments, as well as organizing investment promotion
activities both locally and internationally. The core functions of KenInvest include: Policy Advocacy, Investment Promotion,
Investment Facilitation which include: Investor Tracking and After Care Services.
Role and Functions of KenInvest
KenInvest free services include:
• Issue of Investment Certificate to enable investors to operate immediately;
• Assistance in obtaining any necessary work and residence permits for foreign investors & expatriate staff and
licences;
• Assistance in obtaining incentives or exemptions under the Income Tax Act and the Customs and Excise Act, the
Value Added Tax or other legislation;
• Provide information, on investment opportunities or sources of capital;
• Promote both locally and internationally, the investment opportunities in Kenya
• Review the investment environment and make recommendations to the Government and others, with respect to
changes that would promote and facilitate investment, including changes of licensing requirements;
• Facilitate and manage investment sites, estates or land together with associated facilities on the sites,
• Appoint agents within the country and in any other country to carry out certain functions on KenInvest behalf, as it
may consider necessary;
• Appraisal and approval of investments
Investment Opportunities Other Sectors
• Agriculture • Energy
• Tourism • Mining
• Manufacturing • Building and Construction
• Wholesale and Retail Trade • Infrastructure
• ICT/BPO
• Financial services
The Chairman of KenInvest Board of Directors,
the Management and entire staff of KenInvest
wish to Congratulate
Nation Media Group
on their 50th Anniversary Celebration
We are proud to be associated with you.
Kenya Railways Headquarters, Block D, 4th Floor,
Workshops Rd., Off Haile Salassie Avenue,
P.O. Box 55704-00200, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: +254-20 222 1401-4, Mobile: 254 722 205 424, 722 209 902, 733 601 184, Fax: +254 20 224 3862
Website: www.investmentkenya.com| E-mail: info@investmentkenya.com
Representative Offices:
Eldoret | Kisumu | Mombasa | JKIA | Moi International Airport
CONTINUED ON PAGE 43
XLIV | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
The day Jesus preached to the newsroom
starting a new paper in Africa.
Having people around like man-
aging director Michael Curtis,
former editor of Britain’s News
Chronicle, and John Bierman, an
experienced Fleet Street opera-
tor who was our first editor, gave
us local recruits a great opportu-
nity to learn the sort of journal-
ism which was then unknown in
Kenya.
The strength of the paper was
in part its recognition of the im-
portance of pictures in a tabloid
and our photographers were
chosen with care. One of the
best was the diminutive Caleb
Akwera, who was blessed with a
great sense of humour and often
returned from assignments with
idiosyncratic and witty photo-
graphs that nobody else had
noticed.
There was a minor rum-
John Bier- By DICK DAWSON pus when Kanu held a march
man, the through Nairobi and Caleb no-
F
Nation’s first ew newspapers could ticed a cat walking in front of the
editor. have got off to such a procession. The picture caused
good start as the Daily much mirth, but the leaders of
Nation, mainly because the march considered it insult-
many of the journalists who ing to Kanu and wrote a letter
came out from Britain were ex- of complaint, which was duly
tremely talented, young and en- published. I heard later that they
ergetic and very excited about wished they had never sent the
RECOLLECTIONS
I held my breath in
terror as we lifted a
£1m computer
By PETER CHADWICK UK media, I found it refreshing
to work for newspapers which
A
fter 40 years in the tried to tell the truth free of po-
British newspaper litical, religious and tribal in-
business it was a fluences.
major culture shock The big event during my three
to find myself in Nairobi on a years was the move to the
three-year contract. In 1990, newly-built Nation Centre on
Nation Centre was just a hole Kimathi Street. I had worked
in the ground and democracy on the building and develop-
was a murky concept to Ken- ment of two newspaper offices
ya’s political classes, though in London but nothing on the The modern
the Nation – under the re- scale of this project. That eve- purpose built
doubtable George Mbugguss - rything went like clockwork newsroom at
was doing its level best to hold on the night of the move was Nation Centre
them to account. a tribute to the planning of on Kimathi
The one-time bakery that was Nguchie Gathogo and his de- Street is a
our head office on Tom Mboya partment and to the brilliant far cry from
Street was not the most sa- computer expertise of the team the one-
lubrious of workplaces, but I led by Nick Chitty. time bakery
perceived an energy, a determi- I remember holding my breath that was the
nation to tell the truth – often in terror as a £1 million main- newspapers’
at great personal risk to the frame computer was carried offices on
writers – and an overall feeling in a tarpaulin down the stairs Tom Mboya
of wanting to serve the people of the old building by some 20 Street.
which were irresistible. Hav- brawny men -- one slip and the
ing chafed at the covert politi- whole paper’s future was in
cal bias adopted by most of the jeopardy. But all went well and
letter because people kept mak-
ing jokes and asking if the cat
was a good leader.
A major error I remember from
those pioneer days was a front-
page lead, “Man Killed by Lions
in Game Park,” only inches away
from an advertisement showing
a lion’s head and the invitation
“Come to East Africa’s glorious
game parks”. I seem to remem-
ber advertisement contracts were
cancelled for some time.
One time, the Mayor of Nakuru
invited me to go with him to
Molo and interview Mau Mau
freedom fighters who had decid-
ed to surrender after years in the
forest. As the only mzungu, I felt
slightly apprehensive and it was
quite a dramatic moment when
about 30 of them came out from
the bush.
One of the men looked at me
and put his hand in his pocket
and, frankly, I wondered if it
would come out with a pistol.
But it was a hand-written Press
release and he said he would be
really pleased if I could put in the
paper for him. In fact, I found the
ex-freedom fighters rather timid
and very pleased to be photo-
graphed.
we produced a full Sunday edi-
tion of the paper only 20 hours
after closing down in Tom
Mboya Street.
My policy about editorial con-
tent was that it was the busi-
ness of the editors -- after all,
they were Kenyan, they under-
stood their country and if they
ran the risk of upsetting the
authorities without having the
option of leaving the country,
it was not up to me to advise
them.
But I will take credit for one
innovation, the phenomenon
that became The Cutting Edge.
In the early days of the Na-
tion, many potential politicians,
self-styled leaders and eccentrics
flocked to our offices opposite
the fire station, in what was then
Victoria Street, now Tom Mboya
Street. One of the latter arrived
one day dressed in flowing white
robes, told us he was Jesus Christ
and he was going to give us a ser-
mon.
He then got up on a desk
A major error I remember from those
pioneer days was a front-page lead, “Man
Killed by Lions in Game Park,” only inches
away from an advertisement showing a
lion’s head and the invitation “Come to
East Africa’s glorious game parks”
and preached in loud tones and
at some length. Finally, John
Bierman said “Thank you, but
please do not come back”. How-
ever, Jesus said he could not obey
such a request. There followed a
lengthy negotiation and it was
eventually agreed he could come
once a month and preach to a
strict time limit of five minutes.
This arrangement appeared to
My feeling was that the papers
were often too serious and
needed a lighter touch here
and there and so I suggested
to Managing Editor Wangethi
Mwangi that we should have a
chatty column.
The only place available for
it, due to advertising require-
ments, was the outside column
of Page 7 which led me to sug-
gest the name Outside Edge.
The team did not care for the
name but liked the idea and so
The Cutting Edge was born.
The column took off immedi-
ately and quickly developed
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
be satisfactory to all parties and,
after a while, we got so used to
him that we hardly noticed him.
Unluckily one day, in the mid-
dle of a tour of the newsroom by
a group of VIPs, Jesus arrived for
his monthly visit, mounted on
a desk and began delivering his
usual booming sermon. Bierman
was conscientiously explaining
how the paper worked when he
realised that his listeners were
somewhat distracted. “Er, who
is that chap?” asked one. “Is he
staff ?” Our editor’s skill with
words was seriously taxed to ex-
plain this bizarre situation.
But that was the Nation and
Nairobi half a century ago.
Dick Dawson worked as a report-
er for the Daily Nation from 1960
to 1964.
into a popular outlet for the
ordinary Kenyan to vent his
spleen at the inefficiency and
corruption of petty officialdom.
It still gives me a lift to see the
column’s name on the website
where I read the Nation.
When I knew that I was coming
to Nairobi I suggested to a col-
league from the Daily Mail, Stu-
art Martin, that he should apply
for the post of Finance Director
and in fact he actually moved to
the Group slightly before me.
We quickly decided that the
Nation’s approach to finance
was conservative for a publish-
ing house which dominated the
marketplace so completely and
so, under the guidance of group
chief Albert Ekirapa, we insti-
tuted a much more aggressive
revenue policy.
I hope it is not presumptuous
to suggest that our efforts were
at least partly responsible for
funding the growth of NMG
into the media giant which it is
today.
Peter Chadwick was Managing
Director of Nation Newspapers
from October 1990 to October
1993. He has been retired for
almost 15 years and lives hap-
pily in the beautiful Cotswold
area of Britain with his wife, tel-
evision dramatist Adele Rose.
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
Gearing up
for the titanic
battle of 2002
I
N MARCH 1999, Presi-
dent Moi confirmed that,
in accordance with the
constitution which barred
him from a further term, he
would step down at the De-
cember 27, 2002 election.
There ensued a whirlwind of
political horse-trading.
Kanu formed an alliance
with Raila Odinga’s Nation-
al Development Party and
Odinga became a cabinet
minister in a precedent-set-
ting coalition. Subsequently,
the NDP was absorbed into
Kanu, of which Odinga be-
came secretary-general,
forcing out the long-serving
Joseph Kamotho.
Four months before the
election, Moi named Uhuru
Kenyatta as the man who
should step into his shoes
as Kanu’s presidential can-
didate. Uhuru, son of the late
President Jomo Kenyatta,
was just 35 and had minimal
ministerial experience. The
move angered many Kanu
veterans and some 30 MPs
boycotted the party confer-
ence which endorsed Uhu-
ru’s candidacy.
On that same day, October
14, across Nairobi in Uhuru
Park, Kanu’s main opponents
PROFILE
She witnessed Nation
grow from infancy
A
rare employee who
saw the Nation
grow from infancy
in 1961 to its full-fledged
adult status is the dimin-
utive, bustling, cheerful
and energetic Wilma De
Souza.
Wilma retired in 2000
aged 60, having worked
for the group for 38 years.
“If it were not for the age
factor, I would have liked
to continue,” she said in a
recent interview.
Ms De Souza joined the
Nation on July 1, 1961 as an
administrative assistant.
She later joined the photo
library, rising to become its
first head, responsible for
setting up the archival sys-
tem from scratch.
50 GOLDEN YEARS XLV
Mr Mwai
Kibaki and
Raila Odinga
before the
2002 elections.
finally formed a grand alli-
ance, having learned the les-
sons of presenting multiple
candidates in 1992 and 1997.
Combinations of smaller par-
ties produced the National
Rainbow Coalition (Narc)
with Mwai Kibaki at its head
as the sole presidential can-
didate.
Kenya’s newspapers front-
paged an historic photograph
of friends and former en-
emies all sitting at the same
table: Kibaki, Moody Awori,
Charity Ngilu, George Sai-
toti, Kalonzo Musyoka, Raila
Odinga, Simeon Nyachae,
Kijana Wamalwa and Farah
Maalim.
It was a formidable line-
up and Kanu zealots realised
they could lose an election for
the first time.
In the final weeks before
polling day, there was an up-
surge of dubious dealings at
official level, duly reported
by the Nation’s investiga-
tions desk, including loot-
ing of the NSSF, the National
Hospital Insurance Fund and
the Kenyatta National Hos-
pital. Partly, the cash thus
secured was used to make
CONTINUED ON PAGE 49
Wilma is proud that she
organised records in pho-
tographic form of some of
the great events in Kenya’s
history.
She recalled the release
of Jomo Kenyatta from de-
tention in August 1961, the
independence celebrations
in December 1963.
XLVI | 50 GOLDEN YEARS DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010

2007 polls and the v

I
n the run-up to the 2007
election, the economy was
forging ahead, the media
enjoyed unusual freedom, there
were no political prisoners, pri-
mary school children were get-
ting free education, tourism was
booming and Kenya enjoyed a
generally good name in interna-
tional circles.
But official corruption contin-
ued to flourish, there was linger-
ing anger over the failure of con-
stitutional reform and the spectre
Excited supporters of Raila Odinga at an Orange Democratic Party rally in Nairobi of tribalism was inescapably vis-
during the 2007 presidential election campaign. ible in the line-ups for the poll.
Mwai Kibaki, Raila Odinga and
Kalonzo Musyoka were principal
candidates for the Presidency
while two political groupings
dominated the parliamentary
scene – Kibaki’s Party of National
Unity, backed by the traditional
Gema alliance, and Odinga’s
Orange Democratic Movement,
which brought together Luos,
Kalenjins and some Luhyas.
Early returns looked bad for
the ruling regime as the ODM
outpolled the PNU two-to-one
and a raft of heavyweights were
rejected, including Vice-President
Moody Awori, Njenga Karume,
Nicholas Biwott and Gideon,
Jonathan and Raymond Moi.
Then when the presidential
result was finally announced –
4,584,721 votes for Kibaki against
Odinga’s 4,352,993, violence
broke out but what was shock-
ing was the extent and depth of
the fury.
In the worst convulsion in its
independent history, 1,200 Ken-
yans were killed with many thou-
sands injured, in Western Kenya,
the Rift Valley, Nairobi, Momba-
sa and elsewhere. Tribal gangs
attacked their perceived enemies
with pangas, clubs and fiery
torches, prompting reprisal raids

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on their
50th Anniversary
The Kiambaa fire tragedy: Anger and fear ruled as Kenyans turned on each other in a bloody response to the 2007 poll.
 DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010 50 GOLDEN YEARS XLVII

violent aftermath
Kenyans experi-
enced virtually
every painful
emotion known
to man as vio-
of equal ferocity. The torching of As many as 600,000 people were lence threat-
a church containing 30 people, rendered homeless and refugee camps ened to tear
many of them women and chil- became permanent elements on the the country
dren, near Eldoret, was emblem- national scene. Economic damage was asunder.
atic of the unleashed hatred. counted in billions of dollars. The Daily
As many as 600,000 people Nation declared: “This madness cannot
were rendered homeless and ref- The Interna-
be allowed to go on”
ugee camps became permanent tional commu-
elements on the national scene. ward. cause it was impossible to estab- nity pressed Mr
Economic damage was counted To this end, two commissions lish reliable results. Kibaki and Mr
in billions of dollars. The Daily were established as part of the This conclusion satisfied many Odinga into a
Nation declared: “This madness peace pact: one to assess the con- peace-lovers. The Waki Commis- power-sharing
cannot be allowed to go on.” duct of the election, the other to sion handed a list of alleged per- arrangement
The international community, investigate responsibility for the petrators of the violence to Kofi that brought
in the form of the African Union, post-election violence. Annan, who passed it to Luis peace to the
the United States and Britain, The Kriegler Commission con- Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecu- nation. The
stepped in and made it plain cluded that Kenyans would never tor of the International Criminal brokers includ-
that the crisis must be resolved know who won the election be- Court. ed President
without delay. Kibaki and Odinga John Kufuor of
began fitful peace talks but it was Ghana (below),
only with the arrival of the former Mr Kofi Annan
secretary general of the United and former
Nations, Kofi Annan, on January Tanzanian
22 that designated negotiating President Ben
teams began meeting. Mkapa.
Since it was now crystal clear
that power-sharing was the only
realistic solution to Kenya’s prob-
lems of ethnic division, some
form of coalition government
became the fundamental objec-
tive of the negotiators. But with
the two sides finding it difficult to
shift from their entrenched posi-
tions, Annan moved the talks to a
secret location and demanded a
news blackout.
Under the National Accord
and Reconciliation Act, signed
by Kibaki and Odinga on Febru-
ary 28, 2008, the parties agreed
to form a grand coalition gov-
ernment. Kibaki, who had been
sworn-in was president and
Odinga became prime minister.
The pact was widely wel-
comed.
Heading towards its own 50th
anniversary in 2013, independent
Kenya faced some fundamental,
divisive issues which needed to
be resolved once and for all if the
country was to move safely for-
XLVIII | 50 GOLDEN YEARS DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010

There was
heartfelt relief
all over Kenya
when the two
giants at the
heart of the
crisis signed
on the dotted
line in a deal
brokered by
Kofi Annan
(above)

Luis Moreno-
Ocampo the
ICC chief
prosecutor
pursuing the
masterminds
of the post
elections vio-
lence.

2007 Election and the violent aftermath TOP NEWS

Investo≥s lose
in NSE ove≥ polSh40bn
Af≥ican nation
of State Hilary Clinton met with the violence to the ethnic clashes
l c≥isis to imp≥ove ai≥ s t≥y
COMPANY &
INDUSTRY

the president and the prime min- of the 1990s. The 529-page Waki
Page 2»
safety Family fi≥ms ≥ely
an invisible CE on
Page 26»

O
ister and declared: “We’ve been report said: “The fact that armed
Page s 10 - 11 »

very clear in our disappointment militias, most of whom devel-

that action has not been taken oped as a result of the 1990s eth-
NO. 208

Save ou≥ belov

THURSDAY
JANUARY 3,
2008

KSH50

ed
| TZSH1,000

(over the violence.)” She urged nic clashes, were never demobi-
|

count≥y
UGSH1,400

No g≥ievance is
politicians’ cau
wo≥th the bloo
ses G≥ands
d of innocent Ken
yan child≥en
, and the government the powers-that-be to “step up to lised led to the ease with which
tanding taking O≥ganised mas
nation nowhe≥e sac≥e, looting neg
Kibaki, Raila sho
uld stand dow
ate mo≥al basis
n if they can’t face
of was urged to set up a tri- their responsibilities and remove political and business leaders re-
≥eality
bunal to deal with the the question of impunity”. activated them for the 2007 post-
issue. For his part, Moreno-Ocampo election violence.”
(The Kenya Human announced that crimes against Not everything was negative
Rights Commission humanity had been committed about Kenya’s unresolved is-
meanwhile named 219 and he would seek formal investi- sues, however. A Committee of
people, including PNU gation of them. He met with Pres- Experts unveiled a draft consti-
Kenyans flee to

and ODM cabinet minis- ident Kibaki and Prime Minister tution which seemed to meet the
safety as ethnic
violence spread
s to Kikuyu in Kiamb

O
u District. More
PETERSON GITHAIGA

ur beloved countr than 75,000 Kenyan

y, the Repub- s have been displac
lic of Kenya It is unbelievabl ed and hundre
, is a burnt e foolishness ds killed as politic
smouldering out,

ters, as organisers, facilita- Odinga and said they pledged to approval of most Kenyans. Well-
ruin. The econ- Kenyans to for ians continue
omy is at a virtua destroy their COMMENT to square off over
l standstill and their homes and economy, presidential poll
mies of destru the ar- their entire way A MEDIA PLEA FOR wanton, well-o results.
ction are on the in the name of life SANITY rchestrated
the Rift Valley march in of politics and ting are under blood
and other places of people whose on behalf
are curren mining the moral -let- the country
back from the
In the midst . lives of comfort and tly in great dange of the politic basis brink and
of this, leader luxury are going their credibility r of losing ians’ cause. help restore the

tors or perpetrators of the co-operate. wishers expressed the hope that

are the direct s — who on normally. in the eyes of Those in autho public’s confid
cause of this The media in and the intern Kenyans rity must not sense of safety ence and
phe — are issuin catastro- Kenya today ational comm more regard have .
g half-hearted to be forthright propose cause unity for their — tenuo Tough talk,
for peace, from calls and united in confront- of the systematic killing be- on power than us — grip grand standing and
the ing this blood lives and prope empty point-
hotels and walled comfort of their country. There
shed and disun
ity in the
innocent sweep
ing Kenya, destru the
of
It must be a blind rty. scorin
the nation anywh g is not getting
whence they homes in Nairo is no cause and of the economy ction and deaf perso ere. The mome
who does not

violence.) When the cabi- What emerged from the elec- the top leadership would endorse
are conveyed bi, more valuable no right and the spread n has come to nt
in than fectio n throughout the of disaf- hear the cries isolate
proof limou bullet- litical leader the right to life. 70,000 peopl of the the hardliners
sines. Po- land. e, many of them both sides and on
s on both sides No grievance dren, who are our chil- EDITORIAL,
told in no uncer must be and no cause now refugees Page 14»
tain terms that the innocent is worth own country. in their
they blood of Kenya
The orgies of n children.
looting, burnin A final oppor
NEWS IN DEPTH
net decided against setting up tion post-mortems as deeply the draft and bring their support-
g, rape and tunity now presen
Unveiling camp itself for the politic ts
money bags aign
al leadership
barons Electionshang
to pull
slows businessover
BRIEFING

US presidential
aspirants Barack
Obama and Hillary Business was sluggis It’s back to the
board for Presi drawing
Rodham Clin- h
woke up to the first as Nairobi

a special tribunal, US Secretary significant was the similarity of ers with them.
ton each surpas Treasury to split
sed the $100
million fundraising of 2008 that was
working day
With 20 ministe
dent position into two
mark for their preceded by rs losing
presidential campa violent clashes that parliamentary seats, their The proposed positio
igns by year’s followed the President n
end. controversial outcom Mwai Kibaki will ernance-cum-financi of a gov-
miss
Page 6» week’s general electioe of last services of key driversthe was split after a
al advisor
n. candid
Page 8» government when of his marked for the positio ate ear-
he
new Cabinet in the forms the to meet conditi n failed
World order is
ons set out by
as old captainschanging
next few days.
Page 9» donors.
Page 20» to new kings give in
Pages 16 - 17»
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
TRAINING
Scaling new heights in the
training of young journalists
By DAVID ADUDA
N
ation Media Group has a
long history of fostering
journalistic talent and
professionalism. From the outset,
in 1960, its founder, His Highness
the Aga Khan hired seasoned edi-
tors and reporters from London
and mandated them to design
and undertake an aggressive
training programme to foster a
new cadre of African media pro-
fessionals, providing them with
the necessary journalistic and
managerial skills and offer them
ongoing opportunities to excel
professionally.
In-house training was institu-
tionalised with the appointment
of training editors, whose brief
was to offer apprenticeships to
local journalists; taking them
through all elements of journal-
ism, ranging from news writing
to copy editing and newspaper
production. An early benefici-
ary was Philip Ochieng’, who was
plucked from government serv-
ice, where he had served as a
protocol officer in the Division of
External Affairs, then under the
Prime Minister’s office. Ochieng’
rose from a cub reporter to be-
come managing editor of the
Nation and, later, editor-in-chief
of the Kenya Times, which was
then owned by the then ruling
party, the Kenya African Nation-
al Union.
Another early beneficiary was
Joe Kadhi, who started his career
as a reporter for Taifa Leo, but
was later absorbed in the Daily
Nation stable after a training
stint at the newly opened School
of Journalism at the University
of Nairobi. The School itself had
been established with the collab-
oration of the Vienna-based In-
ternational Press Institute, which
had close links with the Nation.
Kadhi rose through the ranks to
become Assistant Group Manag-
ing Editor of the newspaper di-
vision and established himself
as a popular social and political
commentator with his weekly
column in the Daily Nation titled
Joe Kadhi asks WHY? Today he
mentors and teaches young jour-
nalists at the United States Inter-
national University in Nairobi.
The appointment of Hillary
Ngweno, a Harvard trained
physicist, as editor-in-chief only
two years after Nation’s incep-
tion was the strongest signal of
the desire to empower Africans
to chart the destiny of the Nation.
He played an instrumental role
in initiating training plans for
Nation journalists.
Besides in-house training,
various programmes helped to
mentor and enhance journal-
istic skills. Among others, the
Nation entered into a twinning
partnership with the St. Peters-
burg Times newspaper in the US,
where Nation journalists would
be sent on fellowships to learn
best practices abroad. (A simi-
lar partnership was cemented in
later years with the Kansas City
Star of the US) More initiatives
followed such as sponsoring jour-
nalists for internships and jour-
nalism training abroad and at the
School of Journalism.
As the Nation Media Group
expanded, so too did its training
and professional development
needs. In particular, the Group’s
expansion into Uganda and Tan-
zania and diversification into
broadcasting and digital media
in the 1990s and 2000s exposed
the dire shortage of trained jour-
nalists in the wider region – as
well as critical skill and expe-
rience gaps in traditional and
new media formats. A strategic
response – namely, creating a
pipeline to identify, nurture and
retain talent – was imperative.
That response was the Na-
tion Media Lab, established in
2007 to incubate talent and de-
velop media professionals with
the broad range of skills that
matched the groups expanding
needs. Specifically, the purpose
of the Lab was to identify fresh
university graduates from differ-
ent professions and take them
through an intensive hands-on
craftsmanship to turn them into
journalists.
It was styled a “laboratory”
deliberately – both to signal the
Group’s purpose of creating a
hub for journalistic talent and to
distinguish it from other journal-
ism training models.
Three years after inception,
the Media Lab has admitted
and trained 60 recent graduates
from universities across East Af-
rica. Rather than focus solely on
mass communication graduates,
CONTINUED ON PAGE 52
50 GOLDEN YEARS XLIX
Professor Wangari Maathai receives the Nobel Peace Prize
in Oslo. She is the first African woman to receive the prize.
Prof Maathai is the founder of the Greenbelt Movement.
Battle for democracy
picks up momentum
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 45
political payments to swing
the election and partly to fat-
ten individual bank accounts
in a last-chance raid on the
Treasury’s coffers before an
expected change of regime.
Although Mwai Kibaki
Media Lab was injured in a car crash
trainees and sidelined for several
spruce up weeks, the extraordinary
for gradua- spectacle of a united oppo-
tion. sition excited Kenyans as
never before. The campaign
was unusually free from vio-
lence, as if the dirty-tricks
specialists had already given
up the ghost, and the anti-
Kanu forces duly won an
emphatic victory in both
presidential and parliamen-
tary contests, ending nearly
four decades of uninterrupt-
ed Kanu rule.
Kibaki took the presiden-
cy with 62.3 per cent of votes
against Uhuru Kenyatta’s
31.3 per cent and Narc won
125 of 210 available parlia-
mentary seats. Kanu was
reduced to 64 and FORD-
People won 14. The election
turnout was a high 56.1 per
cent.
Though confined to a
wheelchair with one leg in
plaster, Kibaki presented a
formidable figure at his in-
auguration, condemning
Kanu’s years of misrule and
declaring that “corruption
will now cease to be a way of
life in Kenya.”
The new government
embarked on a whirlwind
of change. Its most popular
decision was to initiate free
primary education for all
children, but Kibaki also ap-
pointed bodies to investigate
Goldenberg and the murder
of Robert Ouko, opened de-
tention cells in Nyayo House
for public viewing, oversaw
the start of a constitutional
review conference and began
moves to rid the judiciary of
corrupt magistrates and
judges.
Kenyans had seen noth-
ing like it and briefly the na-
tion seemed united and at
one. Democracy was at last
achieved. Inevitably, how-
ever, the honeymoon did
not last.
The bill for looting govern-
ment coffers during the Kanu
years was commonly set at
around $3 billion, enough
to pay for primary schooling
for every Kenyan child for 10
years. Thus Kibaki’s inaugu-
ration day promise to put an
end to this perpetual scourge
was received with delight by
indigenous Kenyans.
L | 50 GOLDEN YEARS DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010

At the heart of popular culture

The Nation
covered the
origins of Benga
music, from the
Lake Victoria
region

J
ust as the Nation in its early
days set out to give a voice
to African political leaders
ignored by the colonial Press, so
it opened its pages to the vibrant
indigenous music in a burgeoning
entertainment industry.
You can look through the Na-
tion and trace the careers of some
of today’s most famous musi-
cians.
In the early 1960s, Kenya’s
white-oriented newspapers con-
centrated on dog shows, pony
gymkhanas, visiting entertainers
at the New Stanley Grill Room
(comedian/violinists such as Vic
Oliver) and plays and musicals at
the Donovan Maule Theatre. The
songs and stories that captured
the rich depth of African cultural
life found no space.
Through Taifa, Taifa Jumapili
and the Nation, readers learned
of top singers and composers
like Fundi Konde, Daudi Kabaka,
Paul Mwachupa, Fadhili William,
Them Mushrooms, Maroon Com-
mandos, comedians Mzee Pembe,
Mama Toffi, Othorong’ong’o Dan-
ger, Mutiso, Baba Zero, Makan-
yanga and Athuman Kaipanga,
who dominated the black and
white screen of the Voice of
Kenya for years. Many Kenyans
will remember comedy shows
of the late 1960s, 1970s and the
later 1980s like Kivunja Mbavu
and Vitimbi.
A great musician, whose ca-
reer the Nation tracked for years
was Fadhili William. He was best
known for that great song, Ma-
laika. But controversy grew about
its genesis following reports in
the early 1960s that Grand Charo
was in fact the original composer.
Fadhili, it was said, simply popu-
larised the song in new versions,
as did many other international
artistes.
Other noted numbers by Fadhili
were Taxi Driver and Uwe Wangu.
His stints later with the Hodi Boys
Band and veteran Juma Toto
were also widely reported by Na-
tion. Esther John, Fadhili’s sister,
will be remembered by readers
for the Taita song, Kibilingisho
Ngome, which was later redone
by veteran Habel Kifoto and the
Maroon Commandos band.
Fadhili was born in Taita-Tave-
ta and started music in primary
ABOVE: Mem- Tom Mboya. He jotted down the throughout the years was a keen
bers of Equa- words and she sang them with advocate against piracy through
tor Sounds great aplomb. The Daily Nation various organisations.
Band, Nash- recorded the great event and its Veteran TV comedians Mzee
il Pitchen, rapturous reception in words and Pembe, Mama Toffi, Kipanga
Fadhili Wil- pictures. were amply profiled in both
liams, Charles Makeba collapsed and died in Daily Nation and Taifa Leo, as
Sonko, Peter November 2008 during a tour of was veteran actor Joseph Olita
Sotsi with Italy, but she will always be re- who played the starring role of
an unidenti- membered here for Malaika as the dictator in the 1981 movie
fied fan. The much as Pole Mzee, which she Amin: The Rise and Fall. Most
band went on dedicated to Mzee Jomo Kenyatta of this movie, directed by Sharad
to record the after his release from detention. Patel, was shot in Kenya. Olita
classic “Pole As for Daudi Kabaka, renowned also played the part of Amin in
Musa” which for his Helule song (picked up the 1991 Hollywood movie Mis-
burst charts in and recorded by a British band), sissippi Masala.
the late 60s. Kenyans will probably remember The Nation covered the origins
NMG ARCHIVES him for his patriotic song, Hara- of Benga music, from the Lake
mbee Harambee, which was used Victoria region, in which Daniel
RIGHT: Singer as a newscast signature tune for Owino Misiani, Ochieng Nelly,
Miriam Make- Voice of Kenya/Kenya Broadcast- “Dr” Collela Mazee, George
ba (far left) ing Corporation. Ramogi and others played major
with govern- Kabaka, who performed along- roles. Benga was later to provide
ment minister side Fadhili William, Peter Tsotsi an inspiration to world-famous
James Gichu- school, joining a choir. In the World War and had many hits, and Gabriel Omollo in the Equa- Lingala musicians. The inva-
ru and other 1980s, he moved to the United including Mama Sowera, Majen- tor Sounds Band, was regularly sion from Democratic Republic
guests at the States, but his career did not go Siendi Tena, Kipenzi Waniua reported on in Taifa Leo. He was of Congo through Uganda of
1963 Uhuru prosper. He returned home in Ua, Jambo Sigara and Tausi. He famous for Msichana Mrembo musiciansians seeking greener
celebrations. 1997 and died in February 2001. died in 2000. The original “Dreva but also took part in recording pastures. Others kept moving
NMG ARCHIVES With Malaika, Fadhili put Kombo” was done by Paul Mwa- Pole Musa. between Tanzania and Kenya.
Kenya on the international music chupa. Veterans of the 1960s will re- Also in the Nation archives
scene. The song was later redone Eagerly read Nation coverage call David Amunga particularly is the story of Tanzanian music.
by Miriam Makeba, Boney M and in those days were pictures of a for Journey from America to Af- There were musicians and pop
others. young and vibrant South African rica and Jane is Pretty. Amunga groups which fled the socialist re-
Fundi Konde, one of Kenya’s songbird, Miriam Makeba, who
greatest composers, was born in took part in Kenya’s 1963 inde-
Kilifi District in distant 1924. He pendence day celebrations, along Veteran actor Joseph Olita played the
had strong Kiswahili lyrics and with the famous American, Harry
starring role of the dictator in the 1981
mostly wrote love ballads. Belafonte. What a gig that was!
Fundi entertained troops in Her first attempt at singing movie Amin: The Rise and Fall
South Asia during the Second Malaika was at the request of
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010 50 GOLDEN YEARS LI

Celebrity culture
takes root in media
By PHILIP MWANIKI on the scene. But none were
really as exclusive to celebri-

gime to make money in capitalist
Kenya, such as Mbaraka Mwin-
shehe and Simba Wanyika.
In 1996 came the huge Nation/
House of Manji Benga music ex-
travaganza at the Nyayo National
Stadium. To get in you needed ei-
ther a copy of Taifa Jumapili or a
packet of House of Manji biscuits.
The show was a platform for ex-
posure to leading Benga musi-
cians like the late Okach Biggy
and Heka Heka Band, Princess
Jully , DO Misiani and Sukuma
Bin Ongaro.
Veteran broadcaster and music
promoter Fred Obachi Machoka
praised the entertainment cov-
erage of the Daily Nation. “We
have been able to keep up to date
with most of the happenings on
the entertainment scene over the
years,” he said. Popular music
apart, the Daily Nation has also
been involved, since the 1990s, in
the sponsorship of schools drama
and music festivals.
K
enyans once looked
up to the heroes of
yesteryear—the Mau
Mau freedom fighters, the
Second Liberation warriors,
musicians such as Daudi
Kabaka and Fadhili Wil-
liams, brilliant footballers
like Joe Kadenge and actors
like Mzee Ojwang and Mama
Kayai.
But, with time, the Kaba-
ka generation was brushed
aside by new kids on the
block —Nameless, Hard-
stone, 5 Alive, Redykyulass,
Kalamashaka, Prezzo and
Nikki.
Nation Media Group, em-
braced the new look showbiz
and the celebrity culture was
in. From the 1990s, the Na-
tion has dedicated more and
more pages to entertainers.
It started off as two pages,
but the fans of celebrities
wanted more. They wanted a
relationship with their stars.
They wanted to delve into
their lives and lifestyle. They
wanted to know what their
TOP: Franco pet peeves were and who
Luambo Luan- they were dating, marrying
zo Makiadi of or divorcing.
Congo DRC at Media personalities had
a concert in their own stage. Hamisi
Nairobi. Themo, Nguata Francis, Eliz-
abeth Omollo, Ann Wafula
ABOVE: The and Ken Obachi Machoka
legendary were viewed strictly as pro-
Fundi Konde fessionals. This new breed
NMG ARCHIVES had star quality.
The Nation grant-
ed the new stars
more space on its
pages. Out were the
two pages, in came
The trio that thrilled us on telly Young Nation. The
1973 - 1979
ties as Buzz, a free magazine
that came with the Sunday
paper. This was the home of
celebrities.
The public loved it and
sales climbed. The maga-
zine set the standard and the
topic. You cannot talk about
the Kenyan entertainment
industry and fail to mention
Buzz, which heralded a new
era in “celebville” and cov-
ered every detail about the
celebrities and their art.
As Buzz concentrated on
celebrities, there was still a
neglected audience out there
and the Nation soon came
up with ZuQka, a weekly
lifestyle and entertainment
magazine. The mature yet
still celebrity-hungry group
who would rather listen to
Eric Wainaina than Jimwat
and Mejja found their place
here. This generation ush-
ered in the celebrity craze
in the 1990s and can hardly
keep up today with the fast
rising young stars.
Through the Nation,
Kenya has a vibrant enter-
tainment industry and even
the corporate world is taking
notice. Where it used to be
only “real” heroes who were
awarded Presidential awards
and medals of honour, that
list now boasts names such
as Eric Wainaina.
pmwaniki@ke.nationme
dia.com

fans could now read

V
eteran TV comedians
Mzee Pembe (Omari
Suleiman), Mama
Toffi (Fatuma Saleh) and
Kipanga (Kipanga Athum-
ani) who tickled TV viewers
were also profiled in both
Daily Nation and Taifa Leo.
The trio were popular in the
Mzee Tamaa 1960s and the 1970s with
1973 - 1979
from Tanzania to perform
plays when television was
launched in Kenya in 1962.
One of their first appearanc-
es was in the show “Top Life”.
Among other popular
programmes were Vioja
Mahakamani, Vitimbi, Fed-
heha and Kazi Bure and oth-
ers. Some leading comedi-
about their favourite
stars’ fears, ambitions
and even hitherto well-
kept secrets. People could re-
late to them better through
the pages of the Nation. The
stars used those same pages
to promote their gigs. They
hyped their upcoming al-
bums and they saw sales

programmes such as “Ki- ans in these shows include go up.

M
r Peter Lukoye (above) was active vunja Mbavu”, Cheka na Ki- Mzee Ojwang Hatari (Ben- It was a two-way relation-
for decades as a radio and television panga” and “Jamii ya Mzee son Wanjau), Mama Kayai ship and a generational shift
comedian. He will be remembered Pembe (Mary Khavere) and Mgongo from traditional celebrities
as a writer with the Nation Media Group who The popularity of the pro- Mture. Radio listeners will whose claim to fame was
wrote a popular column in Taifa Leo “Viumbe grammes was mainly based also remember the hilarious that they could sing, look
Vinavyoishi “. The gifted comedian once said: on the social themes touch- Job Isaac Mwamto who pre- good on television or sound
“My greatest challenge as a journalist has been ing on family issues. sented the popular “Porojo” nice on radio.
the move from the old typewriter to the com- Before independence, radio programme on the Soon, other entertain-
puter.’’ Between 1966 and 1977, he acted in they were among the first then VOK radio. ment magazines arrived
Korti ya Kiberenge, Kivunja Mbavu and Vioja Africans alongside Mzee Many of the older Kenyan
Mahakamani. All these were covered in the Tamaa Bin Tamaa (Peter Lu- listeners will recall his witty Performing artist Prezzo
Daily Nation and Taifa Leo. koye) and the Frank Sisters humour.
LII | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
TRAINING
Getting home a
healthy message
to the media
B
ACK IN 2003, while or-
ganising my first HIV/
Aids print reporting
workshop in Accra, Ghana,
I could not have predicted
the extraordinary impact it
would have on my career. I
also could not have dreamed
the experience would even-
tually lead me to East Africa
during a time of unparalleled
achievement and promise
for one of the most vibrant
media companies on the Af-
rican continent.
At the time, I was a reporter
for National Public Radio in
Washington, DC, focusing
primarily on social policy af-
fecting poor Americans. Ironi-
cally, what I was doing in the
US wound up fuelling my Af-
rican journey. As a woman
born in poverty in the richest
nation in the world, I became
a journalist because I wanted
to explore and illuminate the
reasons why so many Ameri-
cans were still struggling. I
also wanted to help improve
access to the basics of the
“American Dream” — educa-
tion, health care, employment
and so on. It was a lofty goal,
but I was determined to help
“give voice to the voiceless”.
Fast forward seven years
to my tenure as a consultant/
trainer for the International
Centre for Journalists, based
at the Nation Media Group in
Nairobi. Through the centre’s
fellowship, I am tasked with
helping improve the cover-
age of health issues in Kenya
by mentoring and coaching
reporters and working with
editors. When I started in
July 2008, that goal seemed
daunting. Having organised
and conducted reporting
workshops in four different
countries since 2003, I had
more than ample training
experience. But would it be
possible to earn the credibility
to influence the coverage of a
powerful company like Nation
Media Group?
Political reporting is para-
mount in Kenyan media, as
in many African nations. The
Daily Nation holds claim to
the most comprehensive,
analytical coverage of Ken-
ya’s political upheaval, and
will continue leading the way.
But I was in Kenya to pose an
evocative challenge: Do media
companies have a responsibil-
ity to increase coverage of
health issues as a core public
service? Could one woman’s
voice in the wilderness really
make a difference?
If that woman’s voice nags
loud, long and hard enough,
I am pleased to report, it can.
Through my initial presence
at daily news meetings, an on-
line all-staff critique and long-
term mentoring and training
of reporters, I can honestly
claim that the Daily Nation
has improved and increased
its coverage of health-related
issues significantly over the
past year and a half. From
a time when health matters
were reported solely through
official press releases, journal-
ists now take the initiative to
develop full-fledged health
features. I have been pleased
with the strengthened writing
and reporting skills of several
staff reporters, and have also
mentored some promising
freelance writers.
There is also more analyti-
cal coverage of policy, such as
how government utilises — or
squanders — health cash.
Most importantly, top news-
room editors are now vastly
more willing to prominently
place health-related news. I
could give myriad examples,
but I am probably proudest
of a story about an increase
in childhood obesity that was
on Page 1.
Rachel Jones is a former radio
and print journalist from the
US. She reported on social pol-
icy for National Public Radio in
Washington DC, from 1998 to
2007, and for the St. Peters-
burg Times, the Detroit Free
Press, and the former Knight
Ridder News Service.
MEDIA LAB
Scaling new heights
in training journalists
A class in
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 49
progress at
the Media Lab
in Nation the Lab deliberately seeks to re-
Centre. cruit graduates of law, security,
social sciences, business and eco-
nomics, as well as those originally
trained in mass communication.
Underpinning this model is
the fact that consumers of media
products are increasingly dis-
cerning, inquisitive, analytical
and sophisticated. They seek in-
formation in a form and depth
that not only suit their interests
but satisfies their intellectual
curiosity.
News items that barely scratch
above the surface; that do not
delve deeper into the sub-text,
provide the context or add in-
tellectual spice hardly jell with
readers, viewers or listeners. The
corollary is that news must be
well-grounded and contextual-
ised, hence the increasing need
for subject specialisation and in-
vestment in ongoing professional
development.
Training at the Media Lab is
intense and practical. Trainees
are exposed to the art of doing
journalism, and for that matter
Past Media Lab graduates have
demonstrated dynamism, creativity and
leadership. Already, one of the pioneer
graduates is heading a bureau, at Gulu,
one of Uganda’s toughest of terrains
doing it thoroughly well. New
and emerging concepts are test-
ed and implemented. Trainers
are a blend of practising jour-
nalists and journalism experts.
In-house staff injects experience
and practice.
The trainees routinely go out to
the field with seasoned reporters
to understudy them; learn how
to handle news conferences, ask
right questions, conceptualise
and develop stories, and estab-
lish contacts.
Past Media Lab graduates have
demonstrated dynamism, crea-
tivity and leadership in their re-
spective fields of specialisation of
deployment. The investment has
not been in vain. Already, one of
the pioneer graduates is heading
a bureau, at Gulu, one of Ugan-
da’s toughest of terrains.
While the Media Lab has prov-
en to be an effective means for
the Nation Media Group to fos-
ter and retain its own in-house
talent, its experience has under-
scored the wider challenges and
capacity gaps that constrain the
role and effectiveness of media in
East Africa. That experience has
also been corroborated by a De-
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
cember 2009 study by Dr. Peter
Mwesige, a former Nation train-
ing editor, on university-level
journalism, media and communi-
cation education in East Africa.
The study identified critical
gaps in basic writing and com-
munication skills; poor analyti-
cal skills; and limited specialised
knowledge in key areas such as
business and economics, philoso-
phy, science and technology, and
the arts and culture. As well, few
aspiring and practicing journal-
ists and media managers have
the ability to work across multi-
media formats.
And perhaps most troubling,
the study identified significant
gaps in intellectual curiosity, con-
fidence, and ethics and integrity.
As the Nation Media Group
commemorates its 50th anniver-
sary, the Aga Khan Development
Network (AKDN) is planning a
new initiative that will build on
the Nation’s experience, knowl-
edge and resources to provide a
broad institutional platform for
addressing the challenges facing
the media sector in Africa today
– with a mission of fostering a
vibrant, diverse, ethical and pro-
fessional media that contributes
more effectively to the develop-
ment, good governance and plu-
ralism of the societies in which it
operates.
Compiled by Gerry Loughran,
David Aduda and Carrie LaPorte
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
Nation scholars making a mark
To her father, Caroline
Biegon will always be
‘Miss Nation’ following
her four-year scholarship
By WANGUI MAINA
T
o mark 25 years of Na-
tion newspapers, the
company offered four-
year secondary school
scholarships to the best primary
school candidates from the 1985
KCPE exam. Two students, the
best boy and the best girl, would
be selected from every district in
the country.
The following are a selection
of some of the beneficiaries and
where they are now:
Patrick Onyango Sawa
District: Siaya
Primary: Sega Boys
High School: Alliance
Patrick Onyango’s father could
not have met his fees since his
two siblings were also in nation-
al schools. After high school, he
joined Moi University and studied
medicine and then University of
London and the London School
of Hygiene and Tropical Medi-
cine for a diploma.
Now a father of two, he is a
specialist in malaria. His work-
ing career began in the Ministry
of Health but he left to join the
International Centre of Insect
Physiology and Ecology on Mbita
Campus, South Nyanza.
He has been published in vari-
ous peer-reviewed international
journals and has his sight on a
PhD in the near future.
Florence Neema Mturi
District: Mombasa
Primary: Aga Khan
Secondary: Alliance Girls
Neema Mturi received a Bach-
elor of Medicine and Surgery in
1997 from University of Nairobi.
After her MBA, she began her ca-
reer at the Coast Provincial Gen-
eral Hospital and worked with
Kemri-Wellcome Trust Research
Programme in Kilifi as a medi-
cal officer.
Caroline Biegon
District: Kericho
Primary: Sirigoi
Secondary: Mary Hill
Caroline Biegon is currently at
Kabarnet High School in Barin-
go, teaching German as a foreign
language. She is also an aspiring
Alice Waithera
Macharia -Njuguna
District: Nyandarua
Primary: Tumaini
Secondary: Limuru
Every month Alice and her col-
leagues contribute money to a
kitty that goes to help a needy
student. They have been doing
this for the past six years and
help students at KCA University,
where she is Dean of the Fac-
ulty of Science and Information
Technology. She holds a Masters
in Science – computer based in-
formation systems – from the
University of Sunderland, UK. A
mother of three, she is currently
studying for a PhD in IT.
Naeem Samnakay scored 531 points out of 600 in KCPE and scored an average
A in the 10 subjects he took in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in 1989
and went to the University of Western Australia in Perth to pursue his dream of
being a doctor graduating in 1997.
Dida Roba
District: Marsabit
Primary: St Mary’s
Secondary: Mangu
Dida Roba has come a long way
from top male student in Marsa-
bit to head of systems operations
at K-Rep bank, where he oversees
IT service and infrastructure se-
curity.
He is helping set up a commu-
nity trust fund to sponsor de-
serving Moyale students. Dida
has a Bachelor of Science in civil
engineering from the University
of Nairobi. For a year he served as
an assistant engineer in the Min-
istry of Public Works .
Mary Madumadu
District: Embu
Primary: Sacred Heart
Kyeni
Secondary: Alliance
Dr Mary Madumadu is a doctor
at Gertrude’s Garden Children’s
Hospital, and at the Outpatient
Centre in the central business
district. On completing school,
she joined the University of Nai-
robi for a degree in medicine. She
later mastered in Neurodevelop-
ment at the University of Witwa-
tersrand in South Africa.
Her specialisation in neurodevel-
opment has seen her work with
children who have autism and
cerebral palsy.
Adilla N. Anyanzwa
District: Kisumu
Primary: Kisumu Union
Secondary: Alliance
Adila joined Moi University
in 1990 and graduated with a
Bachelor of Education degree
in home science and technology.
She has taught in many second-
ary schools in Western Kenya.
In 2001, she joined the Univer-
sity of East Africa, Baraton, for
a Masters degree in education.
This year, the mother of two
moved to Rift Valley Technical
Training Institute as lecturer in
the department of institutional
management.
50 GOLDEN YEARS LIII
Mugambi Kiai
District: Nyeri
Primary: Nyeri Primary
School
Secondary: Alliance
Mugambi supports democracy,
human rights and governance in
the East African region. He has a
law degree and went to Harvard
Law School for a Masters in In-
ternational Human Rights Law.
From Harvard, Mr Kiai went into
private consultancy before join-
ing the Canadian International
Development Agency as a senior
programme officer. Currently he
is with Open Society Initiative
for East Africa in charge of Af-
rica governance project.
Onesmus Kamau Kagwanja
District: Muranga
Primary: Kihoya
Secondary: Mangu
Murang’a was the only district
out of 41 that had three scholars
and Onesmus was one of them.
After his final primary school
exam in Kihoya primary school,
he was admitted to Mang’u and
later to Moi University, from
where he graduated with a de-
gree in engineering. However, he
has never worked as an engineer.
Three years ago, he and some col-
leagues started Verviant, which
outsources software to small and
medium enterprises.
writer who hopes to publish her
stories some day.
David Scott Omutimba
District: Bungoma
Primary: Lugulugu
Secondary: Alliance High
He graduated from the Univer-
sity of Nairobi with dental sur-
gery in 1996 and was employed
by the Ministry of Health for 10
years before moving into full
time teaching. The father of one
lecturers at the school of dentist-
ry at his old alma mater, Moi.
Godfrey Allan Otieno
District: Mombasa
Primary: Ziwani
Secondary: Maseno High
Now a specialist in paediat-
rics and child health, he was
undaunted by student riots and
lecturers’ strikes in the mid 90s
that caused a seven-year delay,
Godfrey was finally granted his
much coveted degree in medicine
in 1997. He currently works as
a paediatrician and research of-
ficer in Kisumu.
Naeem Samnakay
District: Kisumu
Primary: Aga Khan
Secondary: Alliance High
Naeem topped the first KCPE
exams in 1985 and four years
later, he again topped the 1989
Fourth Form final exams after
scoring an average A in 10 sub-
jects. He went to the University
of Western Australia in Perth to
study medicine. The father of
three now works as a consult-
ant paediatric surgeon and pae-
diatirc urologist at the Princess
Margaret Hospital for Children
in Perth, Australia.
Millicent Kavugila
District: Siaya
Primary: Mulaha
Secondary: Limuru Girls
Millicent Kavugila works at
Techno Brain, an international IT
company. She went to Kenyatta
University where she graduated
with a Bachelor of Education in
Science degree.
She went off to teach but
switched her career to informa-
tion technology.
She became a training consult-
ant at the Institute of Advanced
Technology. A couple of years
later she moved to Izon Future
Systems and Techno Brain Lim-
ited and worked in Enterprise
Resource Panning.
She has worked in a range of
organisations in Africa as a con-
sultant.
LIV | 50 GOLDEN YEARS DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010

AUGUST 27, 1965 RECOLLECTIONS

The rapid rise of

Kipchoge Keino Fifty yea≥s of cove≥ing spo≥ting ex
K
enya’s sensational
athlete Kipchoge
Keino knocked six-
The country owes much of its reputation to
and-a-half seconds off the
3,000 metres world record
its talented runners— Kipchoge, Temu, Biwott
in Halsingborg, Sweden, By HEZ WEPUKHULU patches from Perth did not reach
Keino clocked 7mins 39.5 Nairobi until after I returned

seconds in the race, aston-
ishing a delighted crowd
at the Scandinavian meet-
ing. East German Sei-
gfried Hermann had set
the record only a week
earlier and no one had ex-
pected it to fall so quickly
or so definitively. When
Keino left Nairobi at the
beginning of the week,
he told reporters that his
main ambition was to
break a world record to
add to his two gold med-
als from the recent All
Africa Games; he did just
break the record but shat-
tered it. Second place run-
ner Britain’s Geoff North
took over eight minutes to
complete the course, a full
20 seconds behind Keino.
The policeman’s achieve-
ment was particularly spe-
cial for, without someone
pushing behind you, it is
very hard to run at your
best. “This implies that he
could do even better,” said
an Amateur Athlettics As-
sociation statement.
I
n the half-century since the
Nation first saw the light of
day, much has happened in
the field of sport. Kenya has en-
joyed success not only in athlet-
ics, its traditional strength, but
also in football, rugby, boxing,
basketball, swimming, cycling,
cricket, hockey, motor racing,
horse racing, tennis, volleyball
and netball.
The country owes much of its
reputation to its talented runners,
including the legendary Kipchoge
Keino, Naftalli Temu, Amos Bi-
wott, Julius Sang, Charles Asati,
Henry Rono, Moses Kiptanui,
John Ngugi and Paul Tergat.
Since writing my first story for
Taifa in 1961, I have reported on
many great sporting events, in-
cluding the 1962 Commonwealth
Games in Perth, Australia, and
the Fifa 1974 World Cup in West
Germany.
Back then we relied on cables
and teleprinters to file our stories
and the delays were unendurable.
I remember that one of my dis-
Pele ve≥sus Matiba
1968 - 1972
home.
It was vastly different in Ger-
many 12 years later. Football
matches were covered in detail
by the international news agen-
cies, to which the major Kenyan
newspapers subscribed, so my job
was to write a personal report on
the aftermath, requiring in-depth
analysis of the game.
I actually travelled to West
Germany as a representative of
the then East African Standard
(where I worked before joining
the Nation) and the Nation it-
self was represented by its senior
sports writer, Norman da Costa.
Among the games I remem-
ber was the closely fought final
between West Germany and Hol-
land which the hosts won 2-1, to
claim the coveted trophy at the
Olympic Stadium in Munich. Organised sport in Kenya did not begin
Back home, I covered local and in any serious way until after the Sec-
regional football including the ond World War. Today sport is largely
Gossage Cup, precursor to the about money. No soccer player is ready
East and Central Africa Senior to change and take to the field unless he
Challenge Cup, the Remington
Cup and the Kenya National
is well paid and kitted out

President Kenyatta sent

a message to Sweden,
hailing the achievement: Pele, the world’s greatest football player,
“Many congratulations left Kenya for Uganda at the end of a tour Pele’s opinion was clear. “It is my belief
on breaking world record mired in controversy and recrimination. the blame lies squarely on Mr Matiba’s
for 3,000,” said the tel- Kenneth Matiba — the chairman of the shoulders,”
egram “By this great Kenya Football Federation — jeopardised
achievement, you the visit by having a spat with one of Pele’s
have put Kenya entourage; it almost led to the Brazilian
on the map of World Cup star cutting short his ground-
world sport. breaking trip. The incident happened at
Government a reception welcoming Pele to Kenya:
of Kenya is Matiba was upset because he had not
very proud of been consulted about tour arrangements
your record.” and approached Steve Richards of drinks
group Pepsico about the subject. Pepsico
was sponsoring the tour.
It was understood that Richards, a British
former sports reporter, told Matiba that
he had not been consulted regarding ar-
rangements for Pele’s visit here because
Matiba was “just a publicity seeker”. Rich-
ards was promptly dismissed and flown
back to London, but the sacking did not
Kenya’s two- satisfy Matiba, who announced KFF’s
time Olympic complete withdrawal and dissociation
gold medal- from all arrangements made for Pele. At a
list, Kipchoge press conference, Matiba said: “We place
Keino, the the blame squarely on the organisers of
first Kenyan his programme. No doubt they will wish
to break a to explain why they chose to have things
track world entirely their own way in complete disre-
record. gard of opinions from Kenyan authorities
— both Government and soccer adminis- Brazil’s Pele, voted the World Footballer of the Century, shows off some of his daz-
tration.” zling skills at Jamhuri Park during his tour of Kenya in 1971.
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010 50 GOLDEN YEARS LV

exellence

ABOVE: Charles
“Fundi” Onyango
(right) led Gor
Mahia to their first
continental cup
victory, the Africa
Cup Winners’ Cup, Former world marathon record holder and three-time world
in 1987. half marathon champion Tegla Loroupe was the first African
woman to win the New York Marathon in 1994.

Football League, which was in-

troduced in 1964, the qualifying
rounds of the African Nations Cup
and the regional inter-club com-
petitions which Kenya hosted at
different times.
Kenyan track stars, rugby play-
ers and women’s volleyball play-
ers have subsequently left an in-
delible impression on the world
stage, though development has
been slower in other sporting
areas.
That said, it must be remem-
bered that organised sport in
Kenya did not begin in any seri-
ous way until after the Second
World War. Today sport is largely
about money. No soccer player is
ready to change and take to the
field unless he is well paid and
kitted out. In the past, sports-
men and women were happy and ABOVE: In a span
proud to wear the national col- of 81 days in 1978,
ours and play for love of game. Henry Rono (353)
The demand for money and broke four world
huge allowances seems sadly records in the
to be here to stay. 10,000m, 5,000m,
3,000m steeplechase
and 3,000m flat!

LEFT: Five times

World Cross Country
Champion John Ngugi
(second left) won
Kenya an Olympic
gold in the 5,000m in
Seoul in 1988.

RIGHT: Dennis Oliech

(right) was the first
Kenyan to play in one
of the “Big Five” Euro-
pean football leagues
when he signed for
Nantes in the French
league in 2005.
LVI | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
LEISURE
Juha Kalulu, 60 yea≥s and counting
Gitau is an ordinary fellow who
has done extraordinary work in
shaping cartooning landscape
By DOROTHY JEBET
Y
ou can’t do anything
about the length of your
life, but you can do some-
thing about its width
and depth — Shira Tehrani
This motivational quote sums Edward
up the width and depth of the Gicheeri
past six decades that have seen Gitau, aka
Edward Gicheeri Gitau churn out Juha Kalu-
his comic strip, Juha Kalulu. lu, with his
His fans call him Juha Kalulu brush and a
because they think that is his real copy of his
name. “Even my own children work.
call me Juha Kalulu,” says the vet-
eran cartoonist with a twinkle in
his eyes.
Gitau is an ordinary fellow who
has done extraordinary work
in shaping the cartooning land-
scape in East Africa and Kenya in
particular.
At 80, he is still drawing. It all
started when he fell 25 feet while
working as an electrician with the
Ministry of Public Works in 1950.
The fall broke his arm and it was
10 months before he could use a
screw-driver again. “That fall re-
ally scared me. I never went back
to fixing electrical wires,” he says.
‘Nation Man’ title
I wear with pride
By FRED NDUNGU
I was 20 and the Nation group six years old
when I joined Taifa as a reporter in 1966.
For the next 27 years I pounded away at my
Olivetti typewriter, mostly in the smoky,
noisy, sauna that was Nation House in
those days.
But the Olivettis went the way of all the
old technology when the Atex system ar-
rived. There was resistance from a few re-
porters, but it was soon overcome.
Of the people I worked with, I have fond
memories of my immediate boss, friendly
George Mbugguss, the serious sub-editor,
Harry Sambo, humorous Edwin Omori
and mischievous Njoroge wa Karuri, all of
whom are now departed.
I also remember the erudite Phillip
Ochieng, hawk-eye photographer Joseph
Thuo, fearless editor Joe Kadhi, quiet
Wainaina Kiganya and born-again editor’s
secretary Irene Karanja.
It is 14 years since I retired, but my
heart is still with the Nation, which I read
every morning. The people in my village of
Kinoo, just outside Nairobi, call me, “The
Nation man.” It’s a title I wear with pride.
As he lay in what is now
Kenyatta National Hospital, he
began to think more and more
about cartoons. In March 1951.
he joined the Fine Art Photo En-
gravers Company and made his
cartoon debut working for six
months for the weekly newspa-
per, Jicho.
When Jicho folded, he moved
to another weekly, Tazama, and
when that went to the wall, Gitau
joined Baraza, a Kiswahili week-
ly published by the East African
Successes and p≥oblems of Kiswahili newspape≥s
By NATION REPORTER
Taifa Leo occupies a special place
not only in the NMG stable, but,
more importantly, in Kenya as
the only remaining Kiswahili
language newspaper.
It marked the Nation Group’s
arrival in the country in 1959,
when the founding company, Na-
tion Newspapers Ltd., acquired a
weekly paper called Taifa from
Charles Hayes and Althea Teb-
butt, two former employees of
the colonial government’s Infor-
mation Department.
After a few months at Nation
House in Tom Mboya Street, Nai-
robi, Taifa became a daily, Taifa
Leo, leading the way to the Eng-
lish-language Sunday Nation and
then the Daily Nation in 1960.
Taifa Leo, like the English pa-
pers, pressed the fight for the
release of Jomo Kenyatta and
early independence, which was
achieved in December 1963.
The daily, eight pages, rising
Standard group. In 1960, Baraza
followed Tazama into oblivion,
but not Juha Kalulu. Another
small weekly was on the streets
called Taifa, later to become the
Nation group’s Kiswahili daily,
Taifa Leo, and Gitau and his
popular character, Juha Kalulu,
pitched tent. It was a partner-
ship that has lasted 50 years,
and counting. All said and done,
Juha Kalulu is himself all of 60
years old.
He has a huge following
to 16 and then beyond, became
a unifying factor among Ken-
yans at a time of rising literacy
levels and circulation soared, es-
pecially in the rural areas. A Sun-
day product was added, Taifa Ju-
mapili, and additional sections,
including sports news, fattened
the product.
In the 1970s, Taifa Leo began
to experience competition from
the English newspapers, includ-
ing its own stablemate, the Daily
Nation. The problem was that in
the face of commercial and edu-
cational imperatives, ever more
Kenyans learned to read English,
which had already been declared
the official language.
The role of the indigenous lin-
gua franca as a uniting factor in a
country by then secure in its own
sovereignty became irrelevant.
Commercially, the purchas-
ing power of Kiswahili-speak-
ing Kenyans was also less than
among the English speakers,
with deleterious effects on ad-
among Taifa Leo readers and if
for any reason the cartoon strip
is not published, there is uproar
among readers. “If we fail to pub-
lish for a single day, there will be
no peace for the newsroom,” said
Gitau started drawing cartoon when he fell
25 feet while working as an electrician with
the Ministry of Public Works in 1950. The
fall broke his arm and it was 10 months be-
fore he could use a screw-driver again
vertising revenue. Strong com-
petition came from Kiswahili
FM radio stations, which mush-
roomed over the last 10 years.
Because many stations reported
and analysed Taifa Leo content
over the air, readers began to
abandon the newspaper itself.
Loyal readers of Taifa Leo
today are mostly above 45, pos-
ing an obvious challenge to at-
tract new, youthful, progressive
(and usually English-speaking)
readers.
Questions about the relevance
and future of Taifa Leo as a news-
paper seem to focus on the con-
tinuing strength of Kiswahili
and the paper’s niche as the only
remaining one in Kiswahili in
Kenya.
Its supporters say Taifa Leo
has unique content that makes
it a viable alternative source of
news and entertainment.
Market research has discov-
ered loyal readership among
Kiswahili-speaking communi-
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
Taifa Leo’s Deputy Chief Sub, Mr
George Migwi.
Mr Gitau’s cartoon has seen
him rub shoulders with the
mighty of the land. He met Mzee
Kenyatta at his home in Gatun-
du immediately after his release
from detention in 1961 and gave
him a symbolic water colour of a
Maasai Moran spearing a lion.
The retired Catholic Archbish-
op Mwana Nzeki is one of Gitau’s
friends, not to mention President
Kibaki who wrote the preface for
one of Mr Gitau’s three cartoon
booklets in 1978 when he was
Minister for Finance.
Eight years later, Mr Joseph
Kamotho, then Higher Education
Minister, prefaced the second
cartoon strip. “My third cartoon
strip was prefaced by Mr George
Muhoho, Minister for Tourism,
Science and Technology,” Gitau
says. Even with modern infor-
mation communication technol-
ogies, Gitau has no qualms about
his traditional method of manual
cartooning.
ties at the Coast and in country’s
urban centres.
Investigators have also estab-
lished that Taifa Leo is the high-
est placed and most respected
Kiswahili newspaper in the
world, making it key reference
material for teachers, students,
scholars and researchers, both
locally and internationally.
However, industry experts be-
lieve that while Taifa Leo’s print
version remains relevant, there
is a need to take the paper to the
next level, that is, online.
The British Broadcasting Cor-
poration (BBC) website has an
option of news in Kiswahili,
which is fast gaining a follow-
ing. Five years ago, Google also
launched a Kiswahili website
under domain KE in order to
reach a wider audience.
Kiswahili has been integrated
by various international websites
including social sites such as Fa-
cebook, prompting more people
to surf in Kiswahili.
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
Nation starts to look
beyond the borders
D
EBT-FREE AND buoy-
ant at the end of 2002,
the Nation Media Group
took steps to implement a board
commitment to pursue “other op-
portunities beyond our current
area of operations” and turned
its attention to its neighbours in
Uganda and Tanzania.
Having already acquired a
feisty, but hard-up, Kampala tab-
loid, The Monitor, NMG launched
a radio station, Monitor FM 93.3,
to capture the prime Uganda au-
dience for news and entertain-
ment. It won a starting audience
share of 2 per cent against 11 per
cent for the top Uganda station,
but added to Monitor Publica-
tions Ltd’s fiscal burdens.
For its part, the newspaper ex-
perienced constant difficulties
with a government not used to
being questioned and challenged
in detail by the media. An irony
inherent in the situation was
that NMG had been invited into
Uganda by President Yoweri Mu-
seveni himself.
Similarly in Tanzania, Presi-
dent Benjamin Mkapa, dismayed
by the quality of existing media,
inquired if the Nation group
The group began to think of itself, in
words that were to become an in-house
mantra, as “the media of Africa for Af-
rica”.
would be interested in bringing
quality journalism to Tanzania.
Prolonged negotiations led to
the acquisition of rights to Mwa-
nanchi Communications Ltd,
which published three titles in
Kiswahili and held a 51 per cent
interest in Radio Uhuru.
Germane to NMG’s moves was
the belief that conditions were
ripe for a revival of East Afri-
can links. The East African Fed-
eration had died but it was clear
that a new five-nation grouping
of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda,
Rwanda and Burundi, involving
150 million people, could prove a
significant force in the continent.
The group began to think of itself,
in words that were to become an
in-house mantra, as “the media of
Africa for Africa”.
To facilitate this, the Na-
tion group was placed under
the umbrella of the Aga Khan
Fund for Economic Develop-
ment (AKFED), which was re-
structured to include a division
entitled Media Promotion Serv-
ices. Operating widely as a sig-
nificant presence in Africa and
Central and South Asia, the Fund
also had sectors for financial
services, industry, tourism and
aviation.
It was felt that the group’s fu-
ture would best be assured by
institutionalising what was pre-
viously the Aga Khan’s personal
investment. Thus his 23.9 million
shares, representing 44.73 per
cent of the group’s ownership,
were transferred to AKFED.
By 2005, with 15 media prod-
ucts under its wing, NMG ranked
number six on the Nairobi Stock
Exchange. It had radio, televi-
sion, newspaper and magazine
products in both Kenya and
Uganda and though it had closed
Uhuru Radio in Tanzania, it had
started a rare English-language
newspaper there, The Citizen.
Looking farther afield, ex-
ecutives acknowledged that to
become the most authoritative
media about Africa meant physi-
cally operating outside of their
current area. A business devel-
opment unit was set up and re-
search began into target areas
such as the English-speaking
countries of Africa followed by
Francophone and Portuguese-
speaking territories. To facilitate
quality journalism in these areas
in the future, plans were laid for
the establishment of a Graduate
School of Media and Communi-
cations of the Aga Khan Univer-
sity in East Africa. The aim was to
provide the necessary academic
capacity and lead research on
media issues.
50 GOLDEN YEARS LVII
RECOLLECTIONS
Reporting for
Kenya from UK
By PAUL REDFERN
W
hen I spotted an
advertisement in
The Guardian in
the late 80s for a full-time
UK-based correspondent for
the Nation, I was intrigued.
Working with the develop-
ment agency Christian Aid,
I already travelled to Kenya
periodically.
Thus when an advert was
published, I was already in
a sense hooked on Kenya. I
joined in 1990 and my role in
London was swiftly clear: To
write the things that were not
being said in Kenya.
Scotland Yard was called
in when the then Foreign
Minister, Dr Robert Ouko,
was murdered but the Kenya
government failed to publish
the report of the investiga-
tion by Chief Superintendent
John Troon, which remained
shrouded in mystery.
It took time, but eventually
Troon agreed to meet me. He
then spelled out, in a series of
interviews for The EastAfri-
can, how and why his inquir-
Aquisition ies were thwarted.
of Monitor, The man who led the plu-
Uganda: ralism campaign of that era
Despite the was Kenneth Matiba, then
fact that NMG ill and recovering in Lon-
was invited don. When I first met him,
to Uganda he was still having trouble
by President with his speech but his mind
Museveni, was crystal clear. In exclusive
NMG soon ran interviews he spelled out his
into trouble vision.
with a goven- When he eventually flew
rnment not back to Nairobi, a huge
used to being crowd gathered at the air-
challenged port to greet him. By then,
and ques- multi-partyism had become
tioned a reality and Matiba entered
the battle against President
Moi in the 1992 election. But
with the opposition unable to
agree on a single contender,
the anti-Kanu vote was split
and Moi was returned to
power. It was 2002 before a
new era dawned under Presi-
dent Mwai Kibaki.
He faced an immediate
problem. Vice-President
Michael Wamalwa was
known to be in London, his
return to Kenya constantly
postponed. Speculation was
rife that he was dying and
the Nation newsdesk want-
ed me to find out what was
happening. Wamalwa’s aides
kept promising me an inter-
view at his London hospital,
but then kept backing down.
Paul Redfern
I turned up anyway, in time to
see a group of solemn Kenyan
politicians leaving his room.
Had he died? I was told he
was resting and would see
me in time.
I waited…and waited. I said
I had to go and would write
what I had seen. They said,
Come and see him. Wamala
had not died but was unable
to speak. He was drifting back
to sleep and was clearly seri-
ously ill. He died a few days
later.
I was glad to convey the
truth to Kenyans, though it
was hard to rejoice in my
privileged access.
In the spring of 2008,
Prime Minister Raila Odinga
led a ministerial delegation
to London for government-
to-government meetings.
One scene springs to mind.
The delegation was booked
into a central London hotel
to address UK-based Kenyans
and the media. But they had
seriously under-estimated the
numbers. The result was like
the “black hole of Calcutta”
with thousands struggling to
get into an airless basement
conference room designed for
a few hundred people.
It has not all been politics.
In the early 1990s, an invest-
ment conference was held for
Kenya in London. The guest
speaker was President Moi,
who was introduced by the
then deputy British Prime
Minister, Michael Heseltine.
The briefing by his civil
servants was clearly not all
it should have been since
Heseltine referred to Kenya’s
leader throughout as “Presi-
dent Mwa”, apparently in the
belief Kenya was a French-
speaking nation.
Paul Redfern has been the
Nation correspondent in the
UK for 20 years.
LVIII | 50 GOLDEN YEARS
Nation moves to Kimathi street
The shift from Nation
House to Nation Centre
wasn’t just about distance,
it was about nostalgia,
about bridging the
technological divide
By KEN OPALA
M
oving the Daily Nation
and Taifa from Nation
House in busy, bus-
tling Tom Mboya Street to the ul-
tramodern, multi-storey Nation
Centre on Kimathi Street, was a
logistical nightmare.
It was just a street away, a dis-
tance of only 200 metres (which
Usain Bolt could demolish in
under 20 seconds), but it took
days of physical movement. It
unleashed a rush of emotions
and exposed reporters to a huge
technological test.
The date was June 5, 1992. Na-
tion, the leading media house in
east and central Africa, was mov-
ing out of its abode into a new
16-storey architectural marvel.
“Turning a Page” is how the Daily
Nation captured its own reloca-
tion, in its front page.
“It was a great moment, like
the Biblical move from Egypt to
Canaan,” said Bob Okoth, then
deputy managing editor of Taifa
Leo. “On that day most of our
work got delayed. We couldn’t
meet our deadlines.”
Emman Omari, then Political
Editor, captured the excitement
thus, “It was like moving into a
new home, like moving house
from Eastleigh to Runda.”
Some Nation staffers took days
to accept that they had shifted
base. A story goes that the then
chief sub-editor of Taifa Leo,
Obere Akaranga, went for lunch
after Nation moved. On the way
back to the office, he found him-
self heading automatically for the
old Nation House.
The shift from Nation House to
Nation Centre wasn’t just about
distance, it was about nostalgia,
about bridging the technological
divide (discarding the typewriter
for the new gizmo), about aban-
doning a long, low, two-storey
building for a massive, self-con-
tained, two-towered home. It was
a requiem for the Telex machine,
whose clacking noise awoke the
newsroom (when it sparked into
life you knew a new international
story had arrived!)
It was nostalgic because “31-
odd years cannot be wiped off
the slate of a lifetime, forgotten
just like that,” as George Mbug-
guss, then the Nation’s Group
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010
Atex was magic. But there
was apprehension, as usual with
new technology. For obvious rea-
sons, some staff foresaw massive
sackings with the advent of the
computer. The prediction never
came to pass. “To some journal-
ists, it was a matter of ‘better the
devil you know than the devil
you don’t,’” declared a group IT
expert who worked at the old
office. “Whereas the production
department embraced the new
technology very quickly the edi-
torial department appeared less
enthusiastic. There was some
fear. It was hardly surprising.”
Plans to move house had been
in the pipeline since 1988. The
company was in dire need of
more space to introduce new
products – magazines, more
newspapers (such as the The
EastAfrican) -- and set up TV
and radio space. The old news-
room was squeezed and next to
the newsroom was a crammed li-
Above: The brary headed by Charles Mallei.
new imposing According to the Daily Na-
entrance to tion of July 16, 1992, the birth
Nation Centre of Nation Centre started in 1988
just before it when the owners of the centre,
was officially Industrial Promotion Buildings,
opened. decided to build for the city and
themselves a modern communi-
cations centre that would also
Right: house their head offices.
A street “The 73-metre building is
view of the made up of reinforced concrete
old Nation frame structure to withstand
house on Tom earthquakes in accordance with
Mboya street local conditions,” the statement
with the ‘twin said. “Columns are used both
towers’ still for structural and aesthetic ef-
under con- fect. The total floor area is 21,500
struction square metres, including the
towering in basement. The three basements,
the back- well below the foundations of ad-
ground. jacent structures, had to be exca-
vated with great care to ensure
EXTREME the safety of other buildings in
RIGHT: the vicinity. The structural steel
Martin mast rises from the third floor
Muumbo to a height of over 81 metres and
Muyanga, acts as a focal element for the
Business sys- building,” the write-up shows.
tems Manag- And in another commemo-
er, then in IT ration of the relocation, A.H
systems engi- Rashid, the then chairman of
neer and Kibe Industrial Promotion Buildings,
Kamunyu, observed: “The Twin Towers sit-
Quality con- ting on top of the podium provide
trol Editor Managing Editor, noted. “The Atex, the newspapers would be the Daily Nation, would spike a panoramic view of the city and
then Chief new home was not just another produced centrally (the same (kill) our stories as we worked has a noise-free atmosphere. The
Sub Editor, building, but a landmark that be- machine would be used for fil- on them. Here was technology building has a comprehensive
Daily Nation came the talk of the town.” ing stories, editing, design and that enabled the boss to trash fire fighting system, including
For some staff, the move was lay-out). It rendered typesetting your story even before you were an automatic sprinkler system in
apocalyptic. The new office dis- irrelevant. Soft-spoken Briton through writing it! the car parking areas.
allowed smoking, so it was tough Nick Chitty, helped to run Atex
for those used to puffing on a and would fret when there was
cigarette while hitting the type- any breakdown in the system, For some staff, the move was apocalyptic.
writer keys. while working with his IT col- The new office disallowed smoking, so it
And then there was the Atex leagues on the fourth floor, Mar- was tough for those used to puffing on
computer, a system tailored for tin Muyanga and Dave Orwa.
Nation’s in-house use which Yet for many correspond-
a cigarette while hitting the typewriter
turned around the way the ents, Atex was difficult. Kibe keys at the Tom Mboya Street office
newspaper was produced. With Kamunyu, chief sub-editor of
DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010 50 GOLDEN YEARS LIX

Giving back to the

community becomes
a way of life
After the success of the Aberdare project, the
company turned its attention to the Mau

H
aving grown from small
beginnings through
tough times to great
things, the Nation was keenly
aware of the debt to its early,
loyal core readership of ordinary
Kenyan Africans.
Thus, seeking to give back
something to the community,
the Nation Media Group adopt-
ed a policy of Corporate Social
Responsibility, one of whose
flagship projects was the Save-
A-Life-Fund. Partnering with
East African Breweries and
Standard Chartered Bank, it
was launched in the 1990s. The
programme saved the lives of
thousands of people faced with
hunger. It was re-launched in
2008 to help victims of the post-
election violence.
The company’s Corporate So-
cial Responsibility policy goes
beyond feeding the hungry.
A keynote project was helping
to fence off the Aberdares moun-
tain range, one of the country’s
five water towers, north of the
capital city.
The range is the water catch-
ment for Sasumua and Ndakaini
dams, which provide most of the
water for Nairobi. Before NMG
came into the picture, joining
hands with the charity organi-
sation Rhino Ark, the range
was rapidly losing its cover to
illegal settlers and loggers while
human-animal conflict was an-
other problem.
The media group and Rhino
Ark, with the help of other com-
panies and charitable organisa-
tions, funded a 400-km fence
around the 2,000-sq.km forest.
Mr Wilfred Kiboro, a member
of the Rhino Ark Board of Trus-
tees and chairman of Nation
Media Group, said a fund had
been set up that will be man-
aged by trustees from the Kenya
Wildlife Service, the Kenya For-
est Services and Rhino Ark.
After the success of the Aber-
dare conservation, the company
turned its attention to the Mau,
another major water tower fac-
ing destruction. Under the lead-
ership of NMG’s chief executive
officer, Linus Gitahi, the Save the
Mau Fund was launched with
other environmentally aware
companies such as East African
Breweries and Equity Bank.
Experts say its 400,000 hec-
tares, the biggest water supply
area in Kenya lost 107,000 hec-
tares or 25 per cent of its cover
due to tree felling. The forest
also feeds Lake Victoria and the
White Nile, and its destruction
The other project of note was
the Save-A- Life-Fund set up
in 1999 after the Daily Nation
carried an in-depth investiga-
tion piece of famine in Turkana
District
The picture of a four-year-old
Aro Koriang, wracked by hunger
and begging for food, appeared
on the front page of the Daily
Nation publication of November
22, 1999 and revealed the gravity
of the problem.
Aro Koriang’s picture became
the face of the Nation’s dona-
tions hot-line logo. Aro, was
airlifted to Nairobi and received
treatment at Gertrude’s Garden
Children’s Hospital. In a show
unity, the hospital waived her
Sh325,736 medical bill.
The Nation Media Group and
other charitable organisations
also offered to educate the young
girl, who is now 14.
Clockwise from above: A section of the Mau forest; malnourished
Aro Koriang; then Chief Executive Wilfred Kiboro (left) after the
helicopter he was in crashed as it was about to land in the Aberd-
ares during campaigns to build the park fence in 2006, and a hale an
hearty Koriang after being saved from hunger.
LX | 50 GOLDEN YEARS DAILY NATION
Thursday March 18, 2010

Looking to the future with optimism

T
hroughout the years under berspace recently, a Kenya blog- some dam-construction and
review, catastrophic head- ger pointed out that “there has despite motorists’ justified com-
line events were accompa- been an improvement in our plaints, huge efforts are being
nied by instances of economic health care system and now you made to reconstruct many roads.
and social decline and charges of can safely take your sick one to Huge progress is evident in the
official corruption, both high and a government dispensary and communications sector.
low. Accurate as they were, such get medicine for free”. Nurses Whilst honouring such
negative developments did not and teachers had been recruited feel-good factors as Wangari
tell the whole, complex nature of widely in the public sector, thou- Maathai’s Nobel Prize and the
the Kenya story, blurring merit- sands of new electricity connec- continuing successes of Kenyan
ed perceptions of the progressive tions were made through the athletes, a roundup of measur-
and the positive. Rural Electrification Programme able advances in the past decade
Good news will always take and if power and water were pe- would surely also include the fol-
second place to bad – in the gos- riodically rationed, the role of lowing:
sip between politicians and the drought and rains failure could µThe value of exports doubled
conversations of ordinary people not be ignored, he said. to nearly $5 billion.
as much as on the front pages of As little as 10 years ago, many µSome 26,000 kilometres of
newspapers. children could not afford prima- roads built.
But this should not disguise ry school fees, there was no Con- µPoverty cut by nearly 10 per
the fact that Kenya has consist- stituency Development Fund, cent
ently produced good people harambees were the order of the µCell-phone subscribers up
doing good things, and that does day, and, as the blogger recalled, from 15,000 in 1999 to 16 mil- The World Economic Forum’s against any relapse into aid de- A systems
not always exclude the govern- “We had to beg our MPs for hand- lion. Global Competitiveness Report pendency. engineer at
ment. outs.” Today, schools and dispen- µHundreds of kilometres of for 2009-10 placed Kenya 98th Kenya’s blend of beautiful work. IT will
Musing on this situation in cy- saries have been built, there is underseas cable laid. among the nations of the world, landscapes and wildlife has made drive the fu-
µMassive investments made in behind South Africa, Namibia, it one of Africa’s top tourist na- ture.
As little as 10 years ago, many children green energy. Botswana, Mauritius and Senegal tions and also one of the world’s
could not afford primary school fees, µWholesale invasion of public in sub-Saharan Africa, but ahead top five bird-watching destina-
space ended. of Nigeria and all its East African tions. Whatever turbulence the
there was no Constituency Development
µKenya held no political pris- neighbours. nation undergoes, it never seems
Fund, harambees were the order of the oners. Aid flows continued generous- to take long for the tourists from
day, and, as the blogger recalled, “We µThe Office of the President ly but the competitiveness of the Europe, America and, increas-
had to beg our MPs for handouts.” demystified. national character seemed proof ingly, East Asia, to return.

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