Tribute to John Esibi, veteran scribe, media scholar

Kenya’s media fraternity has lost an accomplished journalist and media scholar. Prof John Stanislaus Esibi, simply John when I first joined Nation Newspapers Limited (today’s Nation Media Group), succumbed to complications of diabetes and high blood pressure last Thursday, February 4, 2021. He was 79.

Although he was not my line manager — I was staff writer, Sunday Nation—we had close interaction, as the news desk on which he was acting and later full news editor facilitated on-the-beat reporters’ movements.

John had a high profile as “On the carpet” columnist, in the Sunday Nation, a Q and A slot, which carried interviews with who-was-who in Kenya and beyond.

Then as now, politics commanded pride of place in news media. I was always tickled whenever the doyen of opposition politics Jaramogi Oginga Odinga called in when I was near the news desk. After giving whatever information had brought him to Nation House, news hound that was John, would not let Jaramogi off the hook easily.

Press freedom

As he pried into whatever he felt Jaramogi was hiding—or just following up on the latest tip—the old man would go: ‘Esibi, every day is eating day’. It was the old man’s way of dodging a question he was not quite ready to answer.

John was among the journalists who paid the price for press freedom—a right and aspiration that remains troubled to date.

In the Daily Nation of Monday, May 25, 1981, John is listed alongside Joe Kadhi, managing editor, Daily Nation, Philip Ochieng’, chief sub-editor, and reporters Gideon Mulaki and Pius Nyamora, who had been picked up by assistant commissioner of police Joginder Singh Sokhi at 4pm the previous Friday, and held over the weekend at Lang’ata Police Station.

Editor-in-chief Joe Rodriguez was arrested alongside his team, but was freed the following day. Their sin? Publishing a story on the doctors’ strike, which referred to a statement from Kanu—the Baba na Mama party—as ‘anonymous’.

Friday evening arrests in the Nyayo era served one purpose—to deny the suspect the opportunity of appearing in court for bail until Monday.

On Tuesday, May 26, after the journalists’ release the previous day, the Daily Nation apologised profusely on Page One, no less, for referring to a Kanu statement as ‘anonymous’.

“His Excellency the President, Mr Daniel arap Moi, said the Nation report was tantamount to slandering the party leadership since it questioned the authenticity of the Kanu statement. He also said: “Kanu is the ruling party. It is the government and, therefore, my voice. How then can the publishers of the Nation imagine the views of the party are anonymous? They also want to say that Moi is anonymous.”

Apologised

The Nation apologised thus: “We now recognise and accept that our use of the word “anonymous” was due to human error and was wrong and uncalled for. There was absolutely no intention on our part to call into question the Kanu statement or to doubt its authenticity or to question the position of His Excellency the President as President of the ruling party.”

The nascent Moi dictatorship—Kenya’s second president was only in the third year of his 24-year reign— had threatened to ban the newspaper.

John will, therefore, be remembered as one of the journalists who had a taste of Moi dictatorship first-hand.

John left Nation Newspapers in 1979 and moved to Hankuk University of Foreign studies in South Korea, where he lectured in African studies for 15 years.

An accomplished scholar, who authored the book, Top secrets of this world: The hidden hand in Assassination plots, John earned a PhD in Journalism and Communication Information Technology from the Washington International University in 2001.

John leaves behind a widow, Jael, and three grown-up daughters.

He will be laid to rest at his home in Nangina, Funyula Constituency, Busia County, on Saturday, tomorrow.