Former electoral commission chief executive James Oswago has paid the ultimate price for the bungled procurement of equipment worth Sh1.3 billion during the 2013 General Election (Standard, December 6, p.4). Oswago was found guilty of fraud. The Cambridge Dictionary defines the idiom to “pay the ultimate price” as: to die because of something you have done, especially something you do for moral reasons. That’s what Oswago did?
The government is mulling over devolving payment of retirement benefits to retirees and digitising the process to reduce turnaround time (Nation, December 6, p.3). Argh! Is this journalism? It is awful enough to write that, “The government is mulling over”. What’s “to reduce turnaround time”? Cut the boardroom jargon. Clarity.
Governors yesterday opened multiple warfronts with the national government, demanding review of policies that interfere with devolved governance and disbursement of equitable revenue share, as well as relook at the Sh39 billion medical equipment lease (Nation, December 6, p.6). Of course if Pen Cop asked Council of Governors chairperson Anne Waiguru (or any governor) whether they had “opened multiple warfronts with the national government”, she would say no. Such violent, divisive and subjective framing of a news story debases journalism.
Museveni, 78, has been in power since 1986 when he shot his way to State House through guerrilla warfare (K24 TV tweet, December 5). Shot his way to State House? Calling a spade a spade, without fear or favour.
There will be no boarding schools, PS hints (People Daily headline, December 7, p.6). Intro: The government has hinted at phasing out boarding schools moving forward. Was that a “hint”, really? Education PS Belio Kipsang issued a directive that there will be no primary boarding schools for Grades 1-9 from January, not “moving forward”. Concrete reporting, precision.
Report paints grim picture of people with disability (People Daily, December 8, p.1). What’s the news? Grim picture? Dear cub journo, never write such a banal and pointless headline. Cut to the chase.
Storm over plan to scrap boarding schools (Star, December 8, p.1). Storm over Winnie’s State House snub (People Daily, December 8, p.5). Scribes seeing storms.
Three Kakamega Azimio governors have pledged to support President William Ruto (TheStarKenya tweet, December 8). How many governors does Kakamega have, all of them from Baba’s jumbo coalition? One more reason for CBC.
