Splash: Political suicide or clever plan? (Nation, October 27, p.1). Kicker: The jury is out, and only the August 2022 General Election will tell whether the decision by Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru to cast her lot with Deputy President William Ruto is the smartest move yet of her short political career, or she will live to rue the day she defected from Jubilee Party. Okay, no use reading. It means, ‘We have no story on this until after the election’.
Lamu Senator Anwar Oloitiptip is expected before Resident Magistrate Vincent Masivo at Nanyuki Law Courts. He is expected to take a plea for assault and misuse of a firearm (Standard Digital, October 25). One sentence: Lamu Senator Anwar Oloitiptip is expected before Resident Magistrate Vincent Masivo at Nanyuki Law Courts to take a plea for assault and misuse of a firearm. No need repeating “is expected”.
On October 24, the senator spent the night in custody over the alleged shooting incident at Kanu Grounds in Nanyuki, Laikipia (Standard Digital, October 25). That date, “October 24”, sounds distant for an incident that happened the previous day. Simply write “yesterday”.
Headline: Oka principals fear they may be rendered irrelevant. Kicker: OKA principals fear that they may be rendered irrelevant if they do not act quickly (Star online, October 25). A kicker that merely repeats the headline is useless. Ideally, it should be a one-liner that whets the appetite of the reader with a striking piece of info, for example: Headline: Oka principals fear they may be rendered irrelevant. Kicker: Urgent strategy meeting called this week to ramp up dying campaign.
Headline: Female aspirant seeks to unseat Ndindi Nyoro as Kiharu MP (PD online). Eighth para: She is currently a lecturer at the Embu University and also doubles as the vice chair of Murang’a municipal board. If the aspirant were a man, the headline would have been: Embu lecturer seeks to unseat Ndindi Nyoro as Kiharu MP, tuko pamoja?
In pursuit of interests, the governor and the DP met a zero sum game seemingly burying their differences occasioned by the National Youth Service (NYS) scandal (Standard, October 27, p.6). What was meant here by “met a zero sum game”? A zero-sum game is a situation in which one person or group can win something only by causing another person or group to lose it. How does this apply in Governor Waiguru’s defection to Ruto’s UDA party?
Finally: Yesterday, ODM chairman John Mbadi confirmed the trip, but would not divulge the reasons for the trip (Star online, October 27). Repeating “the trip” is poor subbing.
