What Cost Wachira Waruru His Job? Was It The Githongo Interview Or The Referendum?

Wachira Waruru, the CEO who brought such sweeping changes to the national broadcaster KBC (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation), that it was hardly recognizable to Kenyans returning home after a short stint out of the country, has been fired.

But he was fired in a very interesting way. He was transferred or re-posted to some obscure government appointment. This is exactly the same way some cabinet ministers get fired. Actually this method of firing was perfected in Kenya by the late Tom Mboya when he was helping to dig his own grave by politically eliminating Oginga Odinga. Rather than being fired as VP, the constitution was changed so that it allowed for 8 Vice presidents, one for each province. It worked and the late Jaramogi father of ODM light Raila Odinga resigned in a huff.

Well, Wachira Waruru might just do that. But the big question is what provoked the government to remove KBC's most successful CEO in history? Was it the balanced reporting over the referndum that seemed to lean towards the popular feeling which was to say "no" to the new constitution? Or was it airing the damaging Githongo interviews. These are the two major incidences being mentioned by observers and analysts in Nairobi, but the truth is that KBC under Mr Waruru did very many things that could have annoyed a corrupt government led by people trapped in a time warp of the 1970s.

If I was a corrupt government and wanted to do some effective damage control, I would not stifle the media. That is the worst possible thing anybody can do. Why? Because people will get interested and the information will be disseminated using much more effective media and with greater impact through mobile phone SMS messages and email.

This government should have learnt their lesson from the Ouko affair in the 1990s. In those days no media house would dare publish the truth and the daring alternative press was yet to emerge in those days. But when an obscure Ugandan newspaper published a very detailed "leak" from the intelligence services of what happened, somebody faxed a copy of the page of that newspaper to a friend in Nairobi. Within a few hours the "Operation Bikini Report" had been re-faxed all over the country and everybody knew exactlyu who had fired the fatal shots that had killed the then foreign minister. More importantly they even knew who was present when the minister was murdered.

You can imagine what is possible in this information age where the Internet and mobile phones rule. Trying to muzzle the press or shuting down a media house is not only out of date it is just plain stupid and short sighted. As is sacking a man who has done such a good job that he deserves to be decorated with a national honor.

The message going forth is clear. Involvement in Anglo-Leasing can gain you promotion and at the very worst the powers that be will fight for you to retain your job inspite of pressure from the public (many Anglo-Leasing suspects are still in office like Vice President Moody Awori). But when you do good job, you endanger your very position.

Message received loud and clear.