Sex Scandal At Nation Media Group: Panic And The Aftermath On Kimathi Street

From humble beginnings at it's first premises along Tom Mboya street almost opposite the Fire station headquarters in Nairobi, the small newspaper launched by the Aga Khan on the eve of independence in Kenya in 1960 has grown to be a very powerful media house. Actually the most powerful in East and Central Africa.

Today the newspaper that once occupied some tiny crowded offices in a part of town that was too close to River Road and the riff raff of Nairobi has moved to some very spacious offices along Kimathi street in an imposing ultra modern facility called the Nation Centre. You will need to take one of the super-fast lifts from the white-tiled polished floor on the ground floor to arrive on the second floor at the heart of the most popular and yet also most prestigious newspaper in this part of the world. This is where the newsroom and main editorial offices are. The place where something very strange seems to be going on which has attracted great public interest since somebody posted what appears to be an open letter to the company CEO Linus Gitahi at some almost obscure site about two days ago.

Every serious journalist has dreamt of working for the Nation at one time or another and that was why many were shocked when the newspaper that is credited as having been the first to publish details of the Anglo leasing mega scandal that has rocked the Kibaki administration appeared to have a scandal of its very own in the works.

One reader at a popular discussion forum on Kenyan issues Mashada.com where attention to the posted letter was first attracted from, said: "And I thought our politicians could not be outdone. Muafrica Ovio kabisa, kabisa (the African is very useless).

This site also attracted higher-than-usual-traffic with numerous new visitors flocking here from Switzerland of all places. That development puzzled this writer who expected the traffic surge attracted by the Nation group sex scandal analysis we did (in this, the most popular blog on Kenyan issues) to come from our traditional sources in Kenya, The United States and Great Britain in that order. And indeed that is what happened but there was that 500-per-cent-plus-increase of traffic from Switzerland that we are yet to explain. The Aga Khan high command is in Paris, France.

And even as both panic (within management) and utter delight (within the journalists who have been facing a serious purge that has seen many of them lose their lucrative jobs) has spread across the Nation center at this latest unprecedented development, the management and especially the respected senior managers mentioned in the sex scandal have remained mum. The open letter demanded that the two gentlemen resign or be "smoked out." The two are editorial director (who sits on the board) Wangethi Mwangi and group Managing Editor (perhaps the most experienced and qualified editorial journalist in this part of the world, Joseph Odindo.)

Experienced media analysts insist that if this scandal leads to resignations or dismissals, Wangethi Mwangi will hardly be missed and can easily be replaced by any of the very experienced senior editors at Nation media group like Philip Ochieng or even popular columnist Mutuma Mathiu. Odindo however is a different cup of tea. Daily newspapers as a whole are at the moment struggling to find a new identity and footing in the marketplace after the dramatic overnight change in the way the public receives its' news—mainly brought about by new media. This new media includes the popular evening TV news bulletins, web sites such as this one, the increasingly popular FM stations, as well as the wildly popular cell phone SMS service. All spew more instantaneous news than newspapers and this has made many ordinary folks even better informed on certain issues than reporters at any daily newspaper attempting to write about the same issues.

Odindo, the analysts say, is probably the best placed person to oversee the successful shift of the Nation newspaper (that has already began) to become more of an accurate daily analysis tool than the traditional news reporting medium Kenyans have known for many generations. This is serious business because there are those, even within the industry, who have predicted the ultimate demise of the newspaper as we know it today in the not too distant future. Already Odindo has spear-headed a design change at the newspaper that seems to have been very well received.

It is also worth noting that Kenyan hero John Githongo picked up a lot of anti-corruption inspiration from the likes of Odindo, the founding editor of the EastAfrican who was his boss for many years and is still a close personal friend. Githongo ran a weekly column in that regional newspaper from the time it was launched until his appointment into the Kibaki administration as ethics PS.

Alas, a scandal is a scandal and it seems that none of these deserving key factors will save the veteran editor now as the affected parties and the public at large bay for his blood. And being sex-related, this particular scandal is truly damaging, especially to the reputation of the newspaper. Some of the allegations made in the letter are very grave and coming as they do after months of rumours, are in fact extremely devastating. There is no doubt that already Paris and the Aga Khan's high command must have gotten wind of the goings on in Nairobi. It is highly unlikely that they will just sit there and do nothing.

In the past a swift change of guard has been quickly and unexpectedly announced. The last one was implemented in the 90s after allegations of corrupt practices and bribe-taking by the then senior editors like the late George Mbuguss reached Paris. One of the persons who benefited greatly from that change of guard was Wangethi Mwangi. Has his time now also come?

Sexual misbehavior is even more serious in some people's books, especially when it is linked to corrupt practices like undeserved promotions. Although we all know that office carpets all over corporate Kenya and beyond would have some delicious stories to tell if they could talk. However Nation media group is NOT just any corporate entity. It is in fact the leading watch-dog of society and the truth is that the people we rely on to blow the whistle on all the rot that is eating away at our Kenyan society must be beyond suspicion, let alone reproach.

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