The document discusses the place of columnists in Kenyan newspapers. It notes that there are few opportunities for columnists despite many aspiring writers. It recommends that writers start by submitting letters to the editor to gain experience and visibility before attempting to become a columnist. It also urges newspapers to make more space for new columnists and articles to attract readers on slower news days. The lack of diverse newspapers and opportunities in Kenya is limiting the growth of columns and journalists.

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THE PLACE OF COLUMNISTS IN A NEWSPAPER
About a fortnight ago the Daily Nation’s Public Editor, Prof. Peter
Mwaura wrote what can be considered a predicament of columns in a
newspaper. He lamented so many people wanting to be columnists
against so little space available. He emphasized on some attributes
necessary for one to be a columnist.
Let me start by saying that authorities, even those manning the media
companies, are never at ease with columists because they fear
divergent opinion, especially on sensitive political issues. Politicians
prevail upon them to prevail upon or keep clear of controversial
columnists. This is one limiting factor. Another is that we do not have
newspapers serving various specialized interests which would attract
columists specialized in these disciplines.
Columnists also are self- limiting. They want to start from the top,
spurred by paper qualifications they boast. Why not start, for instance,
by writing letters to the Editor? I do not mean that this is the only way
to impress the editorial higher-ups, but it could help. In the past we
had adventurous letter editors who once in a while came up with a
topical long letter no a hot issue. But these days balance seems the
rule. Papers spare on effort to self-limit and retrench contributions,
even when an earth-shaking issue requiring several opinions come up.
Then most to-be columists hate letters because they are not paid for.
They are also rather amateurish, and few people admit they are
starters, especially if they have the papers. But this is one area where
academic qualifications, though absolutely essential, do not constitute
the core demand of the job. Actually when I was being hired at the
“Weekly Review,” I was with a former classmate as one of the
applicants. He had a first class honours degree in law. He was left, I
was taken.
Those who look down upon letters are rather unwise. Prof. Calistous
Juma, now a senior professor at the famous Havard University, started
out small in Kenya writing constant letters to the editor. If he didn’t, I

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would not be familiar with his name or elevated position now.
Personally I gained a lot writing letters. The late great journalist-cum-
lawyer scholar Mr. Christopher Mulei, employed me because as letter
Editor at the Nation he was familiar with my writings and thought
process.
Finally when I wrote letters to the Editor for Mr.Philip Ochieng’s
“Weekend Mail,” I did not care that they were too long to fit into the
letters’ page. Philip Ochien’g ended up starting a column for me. The
to-be columnists who complain to editor Mwaura are very right. They
are an endangered a lot, generally, in the Kenya of today, together
with freelance journalists. Being a man of the system, Mwaura can
hardly come up with a solution, and creates even more obstacles
regarding the age of columnists.
When Mwaura was Editor–In-Chief of the Nation I made an attempt to
go and complain to him about the fate of freelance journalists. I
surprised my bosses doing such things instead of looking directly for
work. But this time I was prevailed upon and didn’t make it to
Mwaura’s desk. His newly-minted News Editor, Mr. Peter Kareithi,
whom he had just hijacked from the Weekly Review, where he had
been my boss, prevailed upon me and I left the matter at that.
In my quest I did not spare even the scholars. Prof. Chris L. Wanjala,
then only Dr. Wanjala, used to complain that I was even knocking at
his door when he was in the middle of a class. Wanjala was then at the
University of Nairobi and writing critical masterpieces for the Sunday
Nation. Those who are now claiming he is less than impressive as the
father of literary criticism in Kenya, should go to the library and read
some of these contributions.
Historical knowledge of the field you are critiquing is mandatory, just
as Mwaura pointed out. Not necessarily that older people are wiser, we
have had successful young columnists like Mr. Tom Mshindi, Okech
Kendo and Kwendo Opanga in their keydays. But the wealth of
experience, social stability and predictability come with the confidence
that boosts older columnists. Personally I found myself fundamentally
aided by my role at school as chairman of the world affairs club, where
all sorts of issues were brought on table, and often I ended up
teaching boys politics.

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Certainly it is one thing wanting to write columns and another thing
keeping the tempo. Of course for general journalistic work the
threshold should be much lower, and I think this is the lot harassing
Mwaura for attention, if he could find out. I am sorry to be so personal
in this article, it is never my style, but testimony is part of annotation
and experience wealth. So when I went to ask for a job as an opinion
writer at the Weekly Review Mr. Hilary Ng’weno, the editor and
publisher, asked me a simple question: “Do you have material? “If that
material is just one or two stories he cannot gauge your potential,
whether or not you are a person of ideas. That is where things like
letters, research papers, rejected articles, manuscripts come in handy.
That can put one in good stead even if the actual experience is not
that extensive.
Now for the paper owners and editors, it is as if they are not in the
business of producing a paper. They have firmly set and fixed columns
they are not prepared to adjust. Even on a day the dearth of news
makes the paper thin as a lath, they are not prepared to adjust and
produce that odd but timely article. They do not realize that on the
days news is low, readers survive on columns and keep the paper
buoyant.
Media owners believe they are publishing for the advertisements. So
long as the adverts are bringing in money, they are okay. This is false
security because even advertisers look at the calibre of the news
stories in a paper and its circulation base. That is why papers that are
entirely for adverts, even when given out for free, cannot make it.
Then now some primitive people are coming up with the idea of
stapling up papers. What desperation!
The up and coming columnists must be encouraged to write, and get
paid to make them move on. More space has to be created on the
pages and a department to assess and monitor new –coming material
and their authors. Training editors, we sometimes hear they exist,
especially at the Daily Nation.
To take the bull by the horn, we have no papers. Few can be as bold
as Mr. Hilary Ng’weno who left the comfort of being the editor-in-chief
of the Nation to start his own venture which created a whole lot of new
industry players. We owe our progress to such innovative people, and

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the younger generation should also owe theirs to us. Ng’weno and
Mwaura are now old. Where are the new challenge takers?
In Kenya there are less than ten regular columnists. Mwaura revealed
that in the US there are some 1,300 columnists, serving hundreds of
papers. At the beginning I said that we have only three general daily
newspapers. For how long shall we be content with this, when our
children want to be journalists? Mwaura is a professor of journalism
and he knows that every year, our universities churn our hundreds of
new journalism graduates.
On a serious note, Mr. Patrick Quarco had to come all the way from
Ghana to start us a third daily, the STAR, while the two older ones are
foreign owned. Kenyans usually rate themselves as being very smart,
but look at this now! Do we need butchers to start and run us papers>
Does it mean our businessmen can only be tenderpreneurs? These are
the sort of things that should bother Prof. Mwaura, and everyone else.
By:
FREDERICK OWINO OYARO
Email: frederickoyaro@gmail.com