Francis Okomo Okello during a past interview
In this first of a three-part exclusive serialisation of Concert of Life: From the Lakeshore to the Boardroom, Francis Okomo Okello—one of Kenya’s finest corporate leaders and lawyers—recalls how a letter he wrote to the editor as a student ignited what would later be almost three dramatic decades on the Nation Media Group board.
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It was while at Kisii School (KS) that I had my first public letter published in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ column of the Daily Nation in 1969. At the time, this was no mean achievement because of the rigour applied by the Editor in selecting letters for publication.
The letter appeared in the Daily Nation of 17th September 1969 and was recently retrieved from the extensive Nation Media Group’s archives. It challenged the youth from my home location, Yimbo (in present-day Siaya County), to get involved in ‘socio-economic development’ of the location.
I mention this letter for two reasons. First, the letter’s publication gave me a chance to be heard on a matter of public importance and raised my profile among my peers and the Yimbo target audience in a special way. I received many congratulatory messages.
Second, the resultant ‘emotional bonding’ with the Daily Nation turned me into a life-long customer of the newspaper. It later formed part of an interesting conversation I had with the Board of Directors of the Nation Newspapers when I was being interviewed for a board position in 1989. I was appointed a director of the Nation Newspapers on 5th April 1989.
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The Nation Media Group (NMG) is the largest multimedia organisation in east and central Africa and has operations in print, broadcast and digital media, which primarily serve audiences in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and the rest of Africa.
The Group prides itself for being the ‘Media of Africa for Africa’, which is an expression of its desire to be the media of record for important matters on the continent.
The Nation Newspapers, predecessor of NMG, was founded by His Highness the Aga Khan in 1960 following the acquisition of Taifa Leo in 1959. He was then a student at the Harvard University. At the youthful age of twenty-four, he launched the Nation Newspapers when Kenya was about to gain independence. It is remarkable that at that young age, he was able to see that the country would require an independent media that would give a voice to the majority and more importantly, help Kenya transition from a colonial state to a modern democracy.
Non-Executive Director
I was appointed a Non-Executive Director of Nation Newspapers Limited (NNL) on 5th April 1989. I would later become a Non-Executive Director on the main Nation Media Group Board on 18th October 1995, where I served as a Board member and Chairman of its Editorial Board Committee until my retirement from the Board on 28th June 2024.
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The NMG Board has five standing committees: the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee; Nominations and Governance Committee; Human Resources and Remuneration Committee; Strategy and Investment Committee; and Editorial Board Committee (EBC). I have been privileged to chair the EBC since its inception in 1989.
An Autobiography by Francis Okomo Okello pictured on September 17, 2025.
As one of its key terms of reference, the EBC bears oversight responsibility over editorial content of the Group’s platforms. It is, therefore, the guardian and custodian of the Group’s Editorial Policy Guidelines and Objectives, which define its editorial values, mission and principles. The EBC also serves as an immediate point of reference when questions regarding the Group’s journalism require speedy resolution and when public controversies call for Board-level intervention.
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During my tenure as the Chairman of the NMG Editorial Board Committee we had numerous run-ins with the Executive arms of different governments, political formations and other commercial interests in the East African region. To be fair, the relationship between East African states and the media have, over the years, been characterised by mutual respect mixed with suspicion and distrust. At times the relationship becomes tense and hostile, requiring careful navigation, akin to walking on eggshells. The following stories illustrate how a subject covered in our media outlets can lead to trouble with State organs and other political formations as well as commercial interests.
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The Oromo Liberation Front NTV Episode, July and August 2009 – This was NTV’s four-part investigative and exclusive report on the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and was controversially aired as Inside Rebel Territory. The report created tension between NMG and the Kenyan government on the one hand, and the media group and the Ethiopian government through the Ethiopian Embassy in Nairobi, on the other hand.
In the OLF documentary, NTV had ventured into the guerrilla movement’s territory in south-western Ethiopia to expose a rebel outfit that had fought successive Ethiopian governments for more than thirty years. The documentary also examined the movement’s history, leadership structure and political philosophy, and showed footage of guerrillas in training and how they lived in the bush.
It also discussed the effect of the OLF campaign on regional stability and referred to the Turbi massacre in Kenya, where more than 60 villagers had been killed by gunmen suspected to be Oromos from Ethiopia.
This was essentially a frontline report in the best tradition of conflict reportage. It was, for instance, comparable to CNN’s incisive report on the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and its waning influence on the Middle East politics and a similar Al Jazeera investigation on the Ogaden conflict, also involving Ethiopia. The Al Jazeera documentary and the Nation’s investigative piece had been aired about the same time. NMG’s decision to air the documentary was, therefore, driven by public interest arising out of the role such liberation movements play in redefining politics of independent African states and their potential to impede and disrupt Africa’s peace and economic development.
The government of Kenya felt that airing the report would undermine relations between Kenya and Ethiopia and jeopardise planned infrastructural investments to link the two countries.
The government of Ethiopia, through its ambassador to Kenya, accused NTV of lending support to an unlawful organisation and warned that airing the programme could undermine relations with Kenya. The ambassador had earlier sent a protest letter to NMG on 30th July 2009, objecting to the programme’s screening after seeing a promotion.
The pressure not to air the documentary was channelled through Moses Wetangula, then the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Samuel Poghisio, who was the Minister for Information. After a series of meetings with the ministers, including one chaired by the then Prime Minister Raila Odinga, there was a general understanding that NMG had a right to air the programme but should be guided by the following considerations: The documentary should not suggest that the OLF was operating in Kenyan territory, which was not an issue as the documentary was shot in Ethiopia; the relationship between the Oromo and their Kenyan cousins, the Borana, should be underplayed—this was not the intention as the Borana were not central to the story; the government of Ethiopia’s viewpoint should be included, which had been the intention of NMG all along but repeated efforts to get the ambassador on camera and on record had failed; and the documentary should be balanced and not be seen to support the OLF cause—the documentary had been prepared in line with our Editorial Policy & Guidelines and there was no intention to promote either OLF or the Ethiopian government.
Held six meetings
As it happened, similar recommendations had been made by the Editorial Board Committee (EBC) at a previous meeting following receipt of the protest note from the Ethiopian ambassador and concerns raised by the government of Kenya. The EBC held six meetings with NMG management during the crisis, during which it reviewed finished episodes. While supporting the management’s decision to broadcast the documentary, the EBC highlighted the need for clear branding of file material to distinguish it from fresh footage, in order to dilute its possible effect on the then ongoing conflict.
The EBC had also proposed inclusion of a perspective from an expert on conflicts and their impact on regional development as well as possible ways to resolve such conflicts and avert similar wars in the future. As lobbying against the airing of the documentary intensified, the EBC considered the following four possible scenarios: kill the documentary; postpone or suspend the programme; delay and further edit the programme; or screen the documentary as scheduled. After further deliberations, the Committee opted to delay and further edit the programme while allowing tempers to cool down.
It was also hoped that NMG would in the interim secure an interview with the elusive Ethiopian ambassador. This was never to be. The broadcasting staff were duly informed of the decision by EBC. But the implementation of the decision was hampered by an apparent lapse in communication in the editorial department.
That lapse resulted in the second episode being aired on the evening of Friday, 7th August 2009, followed in quick succession by the last episode. It fell on the EBC to invoke the usual risk management strategy to address the fallout. The apparent lapse was separately addressed by NMG’s management.
The OLF debacle is typical of the kind of headwinds the EBC at times sails against when carrying out its duties.
Run-ins with government ministries – Many of the run-ins with ministries, the government of Kenya itself or public enterprises arise mainly out of investigative stories. In the recent past, such reports have included the stories we published in 2016 regarding the alleged improprieties at Afya House, which led to reported embezzlement of donor funds. The contested stories included the utilisation by the Ministry of Health of donor funds provided by USAid and The Global Fund for various public health programmes.
We had published stories in 2017–2019 regarding 100 containers (mobile health clinics), which had been reportedly bought at Ksh. 1.2 million each and sold to the government for Ksh. 10 million a piece, with the consignment being stored for years at the National Youth Service camp in Miritini, Mombasa.
Typically, such stories touched on corruption and breakdown in governance, misuse of political power, lack of respect for human rights and the rule of law as well as lack of accountability in the use of public resources. As expected, the ministers in question expressed their displeasure through various channels.
The President’s Displeasure – An incident that stands out in my recollection was President Uhuru Kenyatta’s personal displeasure with the mainstream Kenyan media in May 2015.
At that time, the president referred to newspapers as “only good for wrapping meat”. Predictably the public’s and media’s reactions to the remarks led to much controversy depending on where a commentator was standing or sitting during the debate. Environmentalists might have seen it as encouraging recycling while food chain experts saw it as a possible affront to carnivores.
On its part, NMG management humorously gave the president a backhanded compliment by naming one of our internal football teams ‘The Meat Wrappers’.
Boycott of NMG’s products
Other Displeasures – Attacks on our media did not only come from government ministries. We had run-ins with political parties, such as the opposition National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition, which during the 2017 election campaigns called for a boycott of NMG’s products for allegedly misreporting the coalition’s matters. There was also a time when a leading commercial enterprise withdrew its advertisements from our stables on account of our editorial stance on certain aspects of the company’s business transactions.
Helicopter Stories (2002 and 2005) – The first helicopter story which created tension between NMG and the government of Uganda appeared in October 2002, when the Daily Monitor, a publication of Monitor Publications Limited (MPL), reported that an army helicopter had crashed in northern Uganda during operations against the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels.
Nation Media Group Board Member Francis Okomo Okello during Nation Media Group’s Board dinner on September 19, 2024 at Serena Hotel in Nairobi.
The second helicopter case that generated controversy was in July 2005, when reporter Andrew Mwenda, on his weekday radio talk show on KFM radio, Andrew Mwenda Live, expressed the view that the government of Uganda was responsible for the death of John Garang. The South Sudanese leader had died in a Ugandan military helicopter crash while flying home from a meeting with President Museveni.
In the first case, the government shut down the Daily Monitor on the advice of Colonel Noble Mayombo, the then chief of military intelligence. A similar tactic was used later in another incident. Although in this case it was KFM radio that was on the spot, the operations of the Daily Monitor were disabled because it shared premises with the radio station and was part of the same business family.
The first incident had led to the detention of Charles Onyango-Obbo, Andrew Mwenda and other colleagues who were charged with treason. To address this situation, a team from NMG comprising the then Group Board Chairman, Hannington Awori, the then Group CEO Wilfred Kiboro, Dr Martin Aliker, as the then Board Chairman of MPL, yours truly as the Editorial Board Committee Chairman and Wangethi Mwangi as the Group Editorial Director, travelled to Kampala.
We arrived at a negotiated settlement with the government of Uganda team led by Eriya Kategeya, the then Prime Minister. Consequently, the journalists were released and the Daily Monitor was permitted to resume operations. During the negotiations, Kategeya took subtle pleasure in knowing that the two of us had a historical connection through the Faculty of Law, University of Dar es Salaam, which he also attended.
On the government of Uganda side, John Nagenda, an advisor to President Museveni, almost ruined the talks which up to that point had been proceeding quite well. After lecturing us on responsible media, John had an emotional outburst and insulted Wangethi, who sharply and wittingly reacted to what he perceived as a personal affront. John, a former journalist and outspoken columnist, might have underrated Wangethi because of his youthful looks and was clearly surprised by the younger man’s assertive response.
Although the second helicopter incident generated broadly similar challenges, the problem was resolved in a less acrimonious way.
NTV (Uganda) Switched Off Air (2007) – NTV (Uganda) was shut down by the government of Uganda in February 2007, shortly after it had been inaugurated. First, there was a claim by the regulator, Uganda Media Communications Commission, that the station’s equipment was too heavy for the shared mast on Kololo hill, which was owned by the government broadcaster and used to be rented by several private TV and radio stations. Internally, it was our understanding that NTV (U) was being punished for the sins of the Daily Monitor, whose coverage of Ugandan affairs was perceived to be hostile to the government, and possibly for the clever way in which the station had acquired a broadcast licence. The station was off air for more than three months.
General Elections (2005/2006) – Claims were made against the Daily Monitor for what was perceived to be biased reporting against the government (NRM) and in favour of Dr Kizza Besigye’s Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). There was yet another threat to close down our operations in Uganda and we had an emergency meeting with Brigadier Nobel Mayombo at Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel in Entebbe, where the brigadier presented his ‘evidence’ of our station’s partisanship. He gave us a one-sided lecture on what he considered our transgressions. This was yet another classic case of damned if you do, damned if you do not.
While Mayombo (and Robert Kabushenga, then at the Uganda Media Centre) claimed that the Daily Monitor was biased in favour of Besigye, for giving the opposition leader more front- page headlines than Museveni, the leader of the opposition and his camp were livid that the paper was covering his legal matters too keenly and not paying enough attention to his manifesto and the campaign that was going on.
Closure of the Daily Monitor (2013) – The Daily Monitor was shut down after it published a story entitled ‘Probe assassination claims, says Tinye’ on 17th May 2013. The story was based on contents of a letter headed ‘Proposed Investigations’ authored by General David Sejjusa, aka Tinyefuza, who had become a public critic of Museveni. Thereafter, the police demanded that the Monitor editor and the reporter who wrote the story should produce the original copy of Sejjusa’s letter and disclose its source.
The newspaper declined to do as ordered, arguing that the media had an obligation to protect its sources. In any case, they did not have the original document as having it would have been a criminal offence. The police subsequently secured a warrant to search the Monitor’s premises on or about 20th May 2013. They shut down all the company’s operations, comprising multimedia units, for 11 days. The Monitor’s offices were declared a crime scene.
Following successful negotiations, the shutdown was later lifted. However, MPL sued the government seeking the following declarations: that the actions of the Uganda Police Force that had entailed closing of MPL’s operations were unlawful and an overstep of its mandate; and that the Uganda Police Force had violated the rule of law as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda 1995.
Special damages
MPL also sought special damages of UGX 1,282,301,952 as compensation for business loss incurred during the ‘illegal’ and ‘tortious’ closure by the police, general damages, aggravated damages, interest and costs. In his judgment of 16th August 2018, Justice David Wangutusi ruled in favour of MPL and upheld our position that the closure of MPL’s multimedia business by the government was unlawful and that the government had overstepped its mandate as provided in the search warrant. Further, that the government’s agents had acted in breach of the principle of the Rule of Law as espoused under the constitution.
In the event, the court awarded MPL total damages of approximately UGX 1.2 billion together with interest at the rate of 18 percent per annum on the special damage of UGX 945 million from the date of filing the suit in 2013. The total award, including the interest element was slightly over UGX 2 billion.
Although the government had initially filed a notice of appeal indicating its intention to appeal the decision of the court, it later abandoned the appeal when the Solicitor General instructed the police to settle the court award. MPL was still trying to execute the judgment as at the time of publishing this book.
General Elections in Tanzania (2010) – There were accusations against NMG’s Tanzanian subsidiary, Mwananchi Communications Limited (MCL), of biased reporting in favour of the opposition party – Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo popularly known as Chadema or the Party for Democracy and Progress. However, independent investigation by the Media Council of Tanzania later exonerated MCL from the accusations.
The Alleged Offensive Cartoon (2016) – Then there was the case of the allegedly offensive cartoon poking fun at President Jakaya Kikwete, which was perceived to have gone beyond common decency even after allowing for editorial parody. In this case The EastAfrican was banned from Tanzania for more than one year.
Publishing Public Servants’ Salaries (September–October 2013) – Mwananchi newspaper was suspended for 14 days for allegedly publishing the salary scales of public servants. Mwananchi’s case was made difficult because prior to this, the paper had published a photo of police officers with a dog walking by a mosque in Dar es Salaam. The government claimed that the picture would provoke hatred of the government by the public.
Reportage of Exchange Rates (2019) – The government of Tanzania was unhappy with The Citizen/Mwananchi reportage of wide fluctuations in the currency exchange rates of the Tanzanian shilling against major international currencies. The reports were based on an investigative story. Our publications were accused of violating certain provisions of The Statistics Act, 2002, which prohibits quoting sources other than the Bank of Tanzania on matters related to exchange rates. The publications were suspended for seven days.
There were also frequent run-ins with the government of Rwanda regarding alleged biased reporting in The EastAfrican, Daily Monitor and NTV (U). The disagreements were due to allegations that our publications and broadcast outlets favoured Rwandan exiles resident in Uganda and were mounting hostilities against the government of Rwanda.
© Francis Okomo Okello
Tomorrow: Encounters with Charles Njonjo and push to reform the Kenya School of Law
