Wasichana wang’aa (Taifa Leo, Desemba 12). Old framing. That’s the successes and failures hangover from the 8-4-4 obsession with competition. Dawn of new era (Nation). Cliché. Girls outshine boys in inaugural KJSEA (Star). 8-4-4 hangover. How the first competency-based assessment is reshaping Kenya’s learners’ futures (People Daily). Prosaic. Exit As, enter EEs (Standard). Catchy. Creative. ‘A’ was the mark of excellence in the former system and ‘E’ the lowest score. Now, the best candidates in KJSEA are awarded ‘EE’ – Exceeding Expectation.
Worst news writing of the week: Guinness World Records responds after Kenyans demand recognition of Truphena’s feat (K24 Digital, December 11). A headline is a story in miniature. What news does “respond” convey here? Intro: Guinness World Records (GWR) has responded to a wave of messages from Kenyans urging it to officially recognise environmental activist Truphena Muthoni’s 72-hour tree-hugging feat. No story yet. Biggest question in the reader’s mind is, what did Guinness say?
Next para: The appeal unfolded in the comments section of a Facebook post on Thursday, December 11, 2025, where GWR had announced the fastest sand-skiing record, set at 121 km/h by Mahé Freydier in Peru.
Third para: The organisation had shared details of Freydier’s attempt, highlighting that he broke a 15-year-old benchmark of 92 km/h and skied so fast that he burned a hole through his skis. Ah, tedious. What Guinness said about Truphena’s feat was buried in the seventh para, imagine. That’s atrocious news writing. Place important info right at the top.
Mr Magotsi was married to a Kenyan woman, with who they lived in South Africa (Nation, December 9, p.3). Nah, with whom he, not they, lived in South Africa.
IEBC: Politicians tried to influence polls (Nation, December 6, p.6). Intro: The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has issued a statement on the outcome of the November 27 by-elections and the challenges it faced. Bland intro. What is the news? That IEBC has issued a statement? Same as PD story on Guinness World Records above. Start with the most important point in the IEBC statement, namely, alleged attempts to influence the polls as highlighted in the headline.
The government has agreed to collaborate with America on surveillance and disease outbreak response efforts (Nation, December 6, p.8). The Kenya National Public Health Institute is expected to lead the interventions. Fine. Next: In the highly privatised health framework seen by the Nation… What is “highly privatised health framework”? That word means transfer of ownership from public to private ownership and control. Yet nothing is being “privatised” in the Kenya-US health deal. Or did Nation mean “highly secret”?
Nation Media Group Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Odundo has asked Savings and Credit Co-operative Organisations (Saccos) to embrace technology in a bid to safeguard members’ money (Nation, December 9, p.10). Why? What problem was Odundo addressing? Kwani Saccos count money by hand and store it gunias? Story didn’t say. Odundo’s advice hangs in the air without proper context. The rest of the story talked about who else said what during the 10th Annual Sacco Leadership Conference. He said. She said. Poor news writing.
Milimani, long known for its tranquillity and low-density residential character, is now at the centre of growing tensions between its traditional serenity and Nakuru’s nightlife scene (Standard, December 11, p.2). Hebu ona, journos seem to have upgraded. Don’t say sparse or low population. Say “low-density residential character”. Wueh!
Kenya is reclaiming its leadership of the global plastics treaty and circular economy using Nairobi, the birthplace of the treaty mandate, to put stalled negotiations on the right track (Standard, December 11, p.2). False alarm. Kenya isn’t “reclaiming its leadership.” From whom? No one is contesting or taking away Kenya’s position as the birthplace of the plastics treaty.
As the country prepares to commemorate the Jamhuri Day tomorrow, the aspirations of the public holiday appear to have faded among the young (Standard, December 11, p.8). What are the “aspirations” of Jamhuri Day, anyone?
