“We commit to put the funds (to) proper use”: Kenya’s Catholic Media Leadership to Gov’t

The Kenyan nun noted that the financial aid will be instrumental in aiding the activities of the various media in the country.

The donation from Government, Sr. Adelaide said, "is all about COVID-19, making sure that we do more by inviting health experts and Religious leaders to speak about the pandemic." 

A move aimed at assisting community media in disseminating information about COVID-19, the grant facilitated by MCK targets community-based and vernacular radio stations in Kenya.

“The grant from the Government through the Ministry of ICT and Innovation is intended to assist community media in implementing public awareness activities as an emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” MCK Chief Executive Officer, Mr. David Omwoyo was quoted as saying.

The subsidy will enable the media houses sustain their employees for at least the next three months, Mr. Omwoyo said.

According to the leadership of MCK, “Local community and vernacular outlets are authoritative and popular in public education and awareness on COVID-19 as critical sources of information.”

“We realized that through local and vernacular media, we can better educate the public about COVID-19. We can have religious and local leaders who will speak in the vernacular language and the people will understand them,” the CEO of MCK told ACI Africa in an interview.

According to the MCK official, the funds offered to “only accredited media” will also facilitate the work of journalists who are considered essential service providers.

In a letter addressed to the beneficiaries of the grant, MCK leadership encouraged them to ensure the COVID-19 protocols provided by the Ministry of Health are adhered to, urging the personnel at the Radio stations “host informative programmes with elected, religious and other opinion leaders” in their respective Counties to assist in educating the public about the pandemic.

Acknowledging receipt of the grant, the Manager of Radio Umoja in the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru, Harrison Wafula, noted that the funds have come at an appropriate time given that “COVID-19 has affected so many sectors of the economy including the media.”

“Our radio depends mainly on advertising and many advertisers have scaled-down. We are not getting enough revenue to sustain ourselves in terms of salary and other facilitation,” Wafula told ACI Africa.

The station manager of Radio Umoja said the funds received will sustain the Radio Station for the next three months including “the payment of salaries and enable us to carry out other activities so that we can give our audiences good information about COVID-19.”

In line with the requirements of the grant, Mr. Wafula said that the personnel at Radio Umoja have so far produced adverts, hosted health experts and opinion leaders to speak about the pandemic.

“We recorded two adverts that are already running, one in Kiswahili and another in Kalenjin, the local language,” Wafula told ACI Africa.

The staff at the Radio Station have facilitated the realization of "two talk shows, with health officials from the County Government of Baringo, a priest and local leaders," he further said.

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For accountability, the leadership of MCK instructed beneficiaries of the grant to keep all the broadcasting logs as proof of running COVID-19 related content.

“We will document the logs of what we are doing after every month to show what we have done in line with their request,” Wafula said in reference to MCK directed.

“This is a good move from the government to cushion the journalists. MCK has shown it is aware of what journalists are going through,” the Station Manager of Radio Umoja noted.

MCK disbursed 80 percent of the funds to the various beneficiaries, with the remaining 20 percent to be paid after three months upon submission of project reports.