Signoff without a sign-out for warrior with a sword voice

Radio journalist Waweru Mburu in January 24, 2012. He passed away a few days ago. He was in the trenches at a time when journalism was dangerous and the pay insulting. PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Waweru had a long history of calling out people who spoke from both sides of the mouth, however powerful or dangerous in their stupidity.
  • Unknown to many, he was pushing back against ethnic public opinion that considered him a traitor for questioning Uhuru Kenyatta on a number of issues.

Waweru Mburu: the name conjured up a hulking figure to match the gruff voice; a face for radio and certainly not helped by undapper dress and a brash, obnoxious manner.

Radio lies. Radio does things to the brain, and many of them are as distant as they seem.

Before I walked into the graduate class of 2010 at the University of Nairobi to introduce writing and editing for print, broadcast and online journalism, Waweru’s name was on my lips as an exemplar for the radio writing I intended to inspire the class to aspire to.

Unknown to me, Waweru was lounging seven rows from the front, anonymous in the evening rush for ‘parallel programme’ degrees.

We later stumbled into each other in the men’s room at a popular nearby bar and swiftly dropped the student-teacher formalities over a drink.

Waweru’s regular speech and his broadcast voice were like day and night.

On radio, he was larger than life, unflinching, uncompromising; in person, he was of a slight built, bordering on thin, soft-spoken, well-groomed, and always a patient and keen listener.

If you ripped open the hearts of many rural folk with soil between their toes, you’d find Waweru’s name etched on the ventricles because of his programme.

"Yaliyotendeka", aired every evening on Radio Citizen and repeated the following morning, had established him across Kenya as a tribeless truth teller, a crusader for justice and an unflinching patriot.

He wrote for the ear — words flowing with poetry and persuasion at a time when the future of radio journalism was in doubt because of the invasion of the airwaves by comic disc jockeys.

Waweru had a long history of calling out people who spoke from both sides of the mouth, however powerful or dangerous in their stupidity.

His courage is pioneering public interest radio journalism through programmes like "Wembe wa Citizen" brought numerous legal problems for his employer but also cast his lot with the weak and the oppressed.

He was in the trenches at a time when journalism was dangerous and the pay insulting.

'TRUE' JORNALIST

The courage it took for his likes to call the Mwai Kibaki victory in 2002, long before any media organisation or the Electoral Commission of Kenya could, crowned years of struggle for freedom of the media personified in the struggles of his employer, Samuel K. Macharia, to own and control broadcast frequencies.

Besides his popular programme, Waweru was the chief chef in the Royal Media Services kitchen as head of radio, serving up good ideas and expanding the stations’ influence.

Unknown to many, he was pushing back against ethnic public opinion that considered him a traitor for questioning Uhuru Kenyatta on a number of issues.

He wore his problems with stoicism. Only once, while attending the Assembly of States Parties in The Hague, did it become obvious to me that he had not had the use of his left hand for a long time.

Waweru was there before Royal Media Services became the media giant of today, and his loyalty and professionalism had earned him the respect and trust of Mr Macharia.

He believed that journalism could be used for good.

At our last meeting, he sought to link me with two women who had lost money attempting to buy land from an influential church investment group in Kiambu.

Their lawyer had turned on them, and they had lost their case in the High Court, and apprehensive that the same monkey games might be at play at the Court of Appeal, wanted some assurance that if they raised a complaint, it would be taken seriously.

He had kept in contact with the litigants for seven years.

On a day like today, the sarcasm, irony, parody, hyperbole, euphemism and mock encomium that are the stock-in-trade of this column take a break. Rest in Power, Waweru!