Editorial manager from Marsabit who changed Nation’s newsroom culture

A view of Nation Centre. FILE PHOTO |  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• Mude Dae Mude was a man of uncontaminated integrity and humility.
• He will be greatly missed by those who knew him as a colleague.

By PETER MWAURA
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Journalist, author and diplomat Mude Dae Mude, who died on Sunday, was the first editorial manager of the Nation Media Group.

He was a pioneer in many other ways. He was noted for his honesty, hard work, and a worldview that was a cut above that of his peers. He came from northern Kenya where he will be buried in Marsabit Town on Sunday.

He was born Ali Mude and baptised Kenneth. But on March 21, 1975, he changed his name to Mude Dae Mude. The change was perhaps as symbolically momentous as James Ngugi’s change of name to Ngugi was Thiong’o. He was a creative and Kenyan-centric writer, a pathfinder and torchbearer.

He was the first from his community to be admitted to Alliance High School and to be appointed ambassador. He was Kenya’s High Commissioner in Canberra 1992-1993, and thereafter served in the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia before retiring.

Before he was appointed ambassador, he was associate editor of The Standard though he had no formal journalism training or experience. It was from The Standard that he came to take up the newly-created post of editorial manager.

I was then the editor-in-chief and Mude’s job was to deal with operational matters to lighten my burden. It was during this time that I realised that the man from the hills of Marsabit was just not that bright, friendly khaki-clad schoolboy that I had met at Alliance High School in the 1960s. He was a man of uncontaminated integrity and humility.

At the time, we did not have an operational code of ethics that was mandatory or known to all journalists. Many journalists, for example, freely accepted gifts from newsmakers and sources without any qualms.

Not so with Mude. He was scrupulously upright and an open book of integrity. I trace the transformation of the Nation newsroom from a collection of reporters to a more disciplined force to his time as the editorial manager.

Earlier, in 1979 he had published The Hills are Falling, a novel that depicts the conflict between traditional life in the village and modernity. The protagonist, Galge, belongs to marginalised pastoralists in Northern Kenya and becomes the first student to go to high school and eventually lands a job in Nairobi.

The book explores the dilemma presented by the choices he must make as a member of his family and his community on the one hand, and as a government official living in Nairobi.

For example, could he morally resort to nepotism in awarding government jobs? The novel reads like his autobiography. In 2009 he published another book, Fighting for Bomas: In search of the Kenya I want, which shows his deep attachment to Kenya.

He leaves behind a wife, Martha, and five children. He will be greatly missed by those who knew him as a colleague. May his soul rest in peace.

Tanzania media guru visits Nation Media Group offices in Nairobi

Wearing what I thought was a Pistil Dixon straw hat and spotting a nearly cotton-white beard, Tanzania’s media guru, Ndimara Tegambwage, brightened up the Nation Centre for two days this week.

He had great conversations with editors interspersed with infectious laughter and camaraderie. And security girls on the second floor beamed whenever he appeared.

Walking down the stairs that a lady was cleaning, he cried. “I know you are mopping the steps so that I can fall!”

The cleaner looked up smiling, denying the innuendo, and looked like she loved her job for the first time.

Mr Tegambwage was visiting to familiarise himself with NMG operations. He has just been appointed ombudsman (public editor) for Mwananchi Communications Ltd, which is owned by Nation Media Group.
MCL publishes Tanzania’s leading daily, Mwananchi, and others including The Citizen, Sunday Citizen, Mwananchi Jumapili, and Mwanaspoti.

As Mwananchi Communications ombudsman, Mr Tegambwage, a veteran journalist, will have the responsibility of upholding the integrity of the company and ensuring the public have a say in its editorial operations.

I welcome Mr Tegambwage to the club of holders — now more than 10 in Africa — of the most lonely and thankless job in the industry. He seems to be very well equipped for it.

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