Es’songolo is a little diminutive village tacked away in Em’mutete, Vihiga County, before you reach the rendezvous, you have to literally cross River Jordan, can you imagine, River Jordan, in Em’mutete.
As we drive down the little slope, a small boy, motions us on, pointing to the direction, we ask ourselves, does he know where we are heading, we tell ourselves, children are the most honest beings, they seem to already know where we are going. A few more minutes and we get to Mwalimu, Pastor, Reverend Job Osiako’s home.
Life has been kind to this great mentor that strode the journalism landscape, molding many journalists who studied at the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication popularly known simply as, Mass.
Job Osiako was not just the Principal of the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication, before his sojourn to Mass, he had been the Principal of Njoro Boys, Upper Hill High School and Eastleigh Boys High School and to cap it all, he was the long serving Chairman of the Kenya National Music Festival, a festival that most people looked forward to annually, one that contained themes that served as a lifetime lesson to many.
Job Osiako the former principal of the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication is revered in the journalism realm, for having molded some of the best media personalities in Kenya as well are regionally in countries like Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi.
His birth and upbringing is a tale of wonder, as his sister Anne Ayuma Arunga offers, “our mother was about to be sent away,” she says breaking into laughter, but sending the point home about the patriarchy that the native AbaLuhya community is known for, “My mother delivered three girls, I was the third born, this worried my grandfather a lot, because it meant the family land would be taken away when the girls leave home.”
And so when she delivered her fourth born and the olukalakala rent the air four times, the village immediately knew that a son had been born at Es’songolo, “there was celebration, chicken were slaughtered to celebrate the birth of my brother, my mother breathed a sigh of relief that she would keep her marriage, while my grandfather knew that the family land had someone to protect as well as protect the family lineage,” said Ayuma as the crowd that was made up of famous journalists who horned their journalism skills at Mass under the tutelage of Mzee Osiako, celebrated their mentor.
His Sister continues about their earlier life as children, cracking one joke after the other, this time remembering how they grew up in a village dotted which huge boulders of granitic tors. She told of how she loved to tease her brother, who would warn her of dire consequences, but this did not deter her from continuing to tease him.
“One day, Job could take it no more, and so he warned me quite sternly, but I continued, and we got into a fight, we really fought, as our friends cheered us on, the girls would tell me, show him you are as strong as he is, while the boys asked Job, how can you allow a woman beat you up?” said Ayuma the third born in the family of seven.
“It was only after another older man came waving a cane ready to beat us, that we took off and the fight ended,” she said as the crowed that had gathered to celebrate a former Principal roared into laughter from the rib cracking joke.
To his former students Job was the humble yet firm Principal who guided them through knowing how to have “a keen eye for detail” and at times took the blame when they faltered during internship. Osiako would not let his student down when faced with challenges as they reported for various media outlets, mostly Kenya News Agency(KNA), Kenya Broadcasting Corporation(KBC) and Kenya Times.
Josephine Karani a former Producer with the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation and later the Producer at the Parliamentary Broadcasting Unit was among the first cohort that joined KIMC when Principal Osiako had been appointed to head the stellar media training institute.
“We were the first cohort and because of the moulding by Principal Osiako I went on to work in the media for 37 years before retiring recently,” said Josephine.
For Elynah Shiveka, the Head of Sports at Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, the opportunity to train at KIMC and her involvement in extra-curriculum activities like hockey, drama festivals has seen her travel the world. “Mr. Osiako you are a gem,” said Elynah showering Principal Osiako with praise for having trained her well.
“Am very glad that you made me what I am today,” said Judith Akolo a journalist with the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation and added, “I really appreciate having been a student at Kenya Institute of Mass Communication at a time when you were the Principal, because you instilled discipline in us, and taught us the virtues of humility.”
Daniel Korir an editor at KTN, “Chief Principal I must say that I am very proud to be here today, you are the person who has molded me to be who I am today, all the blessings I have received, I owe it to the Chief Principal, Job Osiako.”
The Director of Communications at the Orange Democratic Party (ODM) Philip Etale, Principal Osiako polished him, removed the village in him and made him the first television reporter from his village, and has gone on to the present position he holds with a lot of respect.
The last cohort at KIMC before Principal Osiako retired were the likes of Baraza a lecturer of mass communication at Aviation College, Shisia Wasilwa a journalist cum author of Kiswahili books and Martha Anguche a medical laboratory technologist who abandoned the career she says was to please her parents and went to KIMC joining the media.
Mzee Osiako turns 80 next year, and he is yet to hang his boots, he together with other residents of Es’song’olo have established a community radio station known as Anyole Radio. One that educates the local on various topics.
Osiako a graduate of the University of Dar es Salaam, is a contemporary of the likes of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda and former Mozambique leader Samora Machel, both revolutionaries in their own right, “in that class we were radicals,” taught be “a radical lecturer, known as Walter Rodney, who taught us about revolutions” he adds, he has named his son Rodney.
Osiako says his appointment to head Mass was like being through to the deep end. He was never a push over, he had learnt revolutions from his teacher Walter Rodney. He says one needs three things to revolutionize a place.
“What you do to bring change is; first you must have a base from where to operate from for me I had KIMC, secondly you must have a leader with a vision, here I was the leader with a vision, thirdly you need a team, – the supporters, those who are with you, I had the students and staff at KIMC,” he says and adds, “I said we must change the way things go, I want us to change, you have to fear nothing but God.”
Some of the successes under Osiako, included when UNESCO chose KIMC as a base to experiment on introducing Development Communication, “so that news is not what stinks but news is about development,” he says and adds, “we went around the world, to Malaysia, to Pakistan, India, Indonesia introducing development communication, so development communication is a product of KIMC to the world.”
But heading KIMC had its fair share of challenges, and they would come when students would on attachment, whenever they wrote stories that did not augur well with the establishment the whole blame would on the students, and so Principal Osiako would promise to go and “piga msasa” to make the correction and this earned him the nickname Msasa from President Daniel Arap Moi.
But this was the sad part that indeed any time the Principal would be honored with something it so happened that again that would be the time when a mistake will have been made in a story that would have been published. There was a day when he was promised a piece of land, and so they were asked to get to Lumakanda, but again this was the day when there was a mistake in a story by one of the students on attachment and instead of going to receive the piece of land, he was ordered to report to Nakuru to explain how the mistake in the news story had happened, “the student was my friend, I missed the shamba, Mzee (Moi) never gave me anything.
The worst was when he was promised a house, “I missed a house at Upper Hill, I went to the Provincial Commissioner, Waiganjo, he gave me the keys to the house, we went to the house, my wife and children spent time cleaning the house, we really cleaned, it was clean, we were going to go in, the following day Waiganjo calls, can you be here by 6 O’clock in the morning,” he says and adds, “bring the keys, and he said hiyo nyumba haikupewa KIMC ilipewa KMTC (Kenya Medical Training College),” sic, once again Principal Osiako lost out on a palatial house in Upper Hill by taking the blame on behalf of his student on attachment.
“I asked Waiganjo what are you saying?” he said, “He was on phone saying, nimetimiza Mzee ufunguo uko hapa,” and adds, “Mzee never gave me anything but we had a very good rapport with him.”
Principal Osiako has advice for students of journalism as well as practicing journalists, “you always need to have an eye that scouts ahead and an eye that scans at the back and you have to be ready to die for your country, that is the fourth estate, it holds the key to changes in this country, it is a profession that will entertain you, inform you and educate you, the media changes peoples’ lives.”
As a teacher always a teacher, and Principal Osiako had one assignment for his students, he believes that the history of Kenya in the period between 1985 to 2005 has not been fully documented, an assignment he wants his students to fulfill.
