Hapa Kenya No mincing of words

Obama is good, he has a nice personality, he is a Luo, he is from Kenya, and Kenya might actually benefit from his Presidency! But hey! Can we get more of local content?  Do you have to mention the name OBAMA to sell or to be heard and read? 

Not to sound so critical of the local media but truth be told Kenyan journalist have become so contracted, one good example being Phillip Ochieng on the Sunday Nation in his article “The pride of a people: Barack Obama, the Luo”. He had to wag the magic name for his story to gain more weight. The story has very little about the US President but the Luo community.  Today’s Nation has seven instances where the Obama has been part of a headline. Obama has been mentioned 46times in the whole paper, an average of once per page on the other hand, famine and the KNUT issues have been mentioned only 12times in total.

Phillip Ochieng’s article though quite informative, it  epitomize the reek that welter the corridors of Kenyan media, large headlines with little content, miscued ideas and stale stories that must be anchored on revered personalities to hold some ground.  How do you for instance connect the Luo roots (Jopadhola, Jokowiny) to Obama’s Presidency? How did Okot p’ Bitek and Charles Onyango Obbo find themselves in an article about Obama being the pride of the Luo?   It is such fallacy to tell Kenyans that Cain was a Luo and not mention Abel in the same breadth.

Another writer who has lost it, with his continuous struggle to put in cheeky stories and allegories to match the Kenyan socio-political scene is Mutahi Ngunyi. So much for the stale Greek Mythologies that fail to symbolize the intended subject matter.  

I am looking forward to a day when the Kenyan newspapers and the whole media at large will be a little more creative. You don’t have to publish daily editions if there are no content.  I wish to see an announcement on The Nation on a Monday that Tuesday edition will not be available due to lack of content.