Editors, KUJ to snub Kenya Pipeline journalism awards

Journalists have turned down invitation by Kenya Pipeline to be part of a journalism excellence award gala slated for Thursday, April 4.

In March, Kenya Pipeline acting Managing Director Hudson Andambi invited the Kenya Editors' Guild and Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ), among other media and journalism associations, to be part of the fourth edition of the Energy Journalism Excellence Awards (EJEA) at Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi.

AFFRONT

According to Mr Andambi, the awards are “an annual media relations project which culminates in competitions, awarding and recognising journalists who exhibit exemplary understanding and reporting on matters related to the developments in the energy and petroleum sectors”.

“We hereby invite you to attend the ceremony. Please also nominate eight members of the guild who would wish to attend the event to accompany you,” reads the invitation letter sent to the Editors’ Guild on March 28.

However, the Editors' Guild and KUJ, which defend media freedom and independence, have questioned the integrity of the awards given that Kenya Pipeline and several other sponsors are under active investigation over grand corruption.

Other sponsors of the event to be presided over by Petroleum and Mining Cabinet Secretary John Munyes are Kenya Power, KenGen, National Oil, Energy Regulatory Commission, Geothermal Development Corporation, Ketraco, Kenya Nuclear Electricity Board and the Rural Electrification Authority.

The two media lobbies termed the gala and its timing as “an affront to independent journalism in Kenya.”

In different letters sent to KPC management, KUJ and the guild categorically stated that they would not take part in the event as currently structured.

“As you may be aware, the Kenya Editors’ Guild is the professional organisation that brings together senior print, magazine, broadcast and other electronic media editors,” a letter from the Guild’s CEO Rosalia Omungo reads in part.

SPONSORS

“The Executive Council of the Guild wishes to register its concern that the EJEA awards as currently structured can be deemed to be an affront on independent journalism in Kenya.”

The guild cited conflict of interest in the awards that seem to recognise and celebrate journalists who cover energy projects, mostly in positive light.

“The awards as planned seek to put journalists in a situation where they are to be celebrated by subjects of their coverage, all in the claim of rewarding excellence,” Ms Omungo writes.

“Naturally, this constitutes a major conflict of interest, a grave matter for editors in particular and the larger fraternity of free media.”

The letter concluded that the association’s members had been “advised accordingly.”

In a separate letter, KUJ Secretary-General Erick Oduor raised similar concerns as he rejected the invitation.

In his reply addressed to KPC’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Mr Oduor questioned the integrity of companies that have sponsored the festival.

“We wish to disassociate ourselves from the awards because we believe the awards lack integrity,” Mr Oduor writes in the letter date April 2.

EJEA

“We are aware that some of the companies who have sponsored these awards have either been investigated or are being investigated over corruption and cannot stand the test of integrity that the media fraternity as the watchdog would like to associate with.”

The Nation's efforts to get a comment from the organisers of the event did not yield much as the communications team at Kenya Pipeline referred us to the MD, Mr Andambi.

When we called Mr Andambi, he said he was at the Senate without giving details.

The Senate, the National Assembly, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations have been investigating loss of billions of shillings in dubious deals at the parastatal.

KUJ is a trade union that champions for the rights and welfare of journalists in the country, while the Editors' Guild is an association of senior editors, which seeks to defend and promote media freedom and independence, quality and ethical journalism and provide a forum for discussing challenges facing the media and editors in Kenya.

Ejea is an initiative by the ministry of Energy and Petroleum and its organisers claim its aim is "to recognise, celebrate and encourage quality energy journalism".