In June, Eastleigh Voice journalist Amina Wako was in Goma, the “war-torn” region of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. “I expected ruin. Collapsed buildings. Blackened rubble. Bullet-scarred walls. I imagined a landscape frozen in grief, punctuated by silence and soot,” Amina wrote.
But what did she find instead? “The destruction I had envisioned wasn’t there. Sure, scars of conflict existed but they were subtle, shadowed by a city that had somehow refused to stop living.” How was the city still alive?
“The palm trees, bustling streets, and warm coastal vibe reminded me of Mombasa. The town was vibrant. Music thumped from shops. Smoke curled from street food vendors.” And then some emotive and unforgettable encounters. “I chatted with residents in Swahili, drank maziwa mala (local fermented milk known as ikivuguto), and even bought homemade cheese crafted from their abundant cattle. One young girl told me she wanted to become a journalist. She asked for my number, so we could keep in touch. Her eyes didn’t reflect fear; they reflected ambition.”
A parachute journalist landing in Goma from any of the world’s large news organisations would never have seen all that. The run-of-the-mill story would have been entirely about the devastation of war, as Amina had imagined, no doubt after watching or reading endless foreign media reports about the region.
African journalists reporting about Africa would likely see things differently from foreign correspondents, even seasoned ones. They know they are reporting about their own people. They have empathy. Their eyes are not tinted with centuries of entrenched prejudice. They are telling the stories of their brothers and sisters, not of total strangers. They can relate. That is why Goma reminds Amina of Mombasa. She can connect with the ambitious Congolese girl who wants to become a journalist.
Most Africans know about events in other parts of the continent through the jaundiced eyes of foreigners. They have internalised the overly negative images of the continent that often contradict their own lived experiences. This intensifies a sense of hopelessness and self-loathing. To change this, more African journalists should tell more positive stories about Africa. Amid raging conflicts, political instability or grinding poverty, there are always heartwarming stories of resilience, of the undying human spirit, of hope, of love. There is a lot more going on than the skewed, one-dimensional representations of complex human realities. We must reject simplistic tales about Africa.
But this is often not easy for many reasons, not least among them the difficulties African journalists face in accessing other countries on the continent. In 2020, two Kenyan journalists were arrested in Tanzania while interviewing members of the public about the status of the coronavirus pandemic in the country. Elimu TV cameraman Clinton Isimbu and reporter Kaleria Shadrack were charged with illegal entry and working without a permit. They were each fined about Sh46,000 or serve three years in prison. That was unfortunate.
At the Pan-African Media Summit in Arusha, Tanzania, last week, Media Council of Kenya CEO David Omwoyo was elected chairman of the East African Press Councils and the World Association of Press Councils. The EAPC, established in 2023, is dedicated to media regulation and content moderation, bringing together media councils from the East African Community.
“As the first priority, we are working towards cross-border recognition of accreditation to allow media professionals to work in any member country without the need for new accreditation, Omwoyo told The Star.
Once cross-border accreditation of media workers is allowed, Gateeeete Njoroge of Citizen TV and his crew would be able to simply pack their bags and head to any EAC member state, do their story and return to Nairobi without any difficulty. Journalists from anywhere in the region can move around and work freely.
The EAC treaty provides for the free movement of persons, labour and services. Omwoyo and his regional team should find no problem realising the goal of cross-border accreditation of media workers, which is long overdue considering that the EAC is 25 years old this year.
With well-established newsrooms across the region, East Africans do not need to rely on foreign news outlets to know what is going on around them. The freedom to move and work from anywhere in the region will enrich media content, build public awareness of important developments in the bloc, enable more telling of African stories through African eyes, open up opportunities for collaboration and enhance the sense of unity among the people. Jumuiya hoyee!
See you next week!
