Zubeidah Koome: My agenda as Kenya Editors Guild president
What you need to know:
- Zubeidah Koome was last Saturday elected the first female president of Kenya Editors Guild.
- KEG also has women holding the post of vice president and chief executive officer.
- Ms Koome and Ruth Nesoba (vice-president) successfully competed against men.
For the first time in the history of Kenya Editors Guild (KEG) established in 1998, more women than men constitute its 11-member Executive Council.
Six of the members including the president (Zubeidah Koome), vice president (Ruth Nesoba) and chief executive officer (Rosalia Omungo) are women.
The others are Linda Bach, a council member for print, Millicent Awuor (television), and Toepista Nabusoba (radio).
They were elected last Saturday during KEG’s annual general meeting in Nairobi, to serve for the next two years. Ms Koome and Ms Nesoba successfully competed against men.
Sammy Muraya was Ms Koome’s competitor while Ms Nesoba trounced James Ng’ang’a Mbugua.
The five men to serve in the council are Francis Mureithi, who is in charge of digital and Prof George Nyabuga (academia). The rest three — Arthur Okwemba, Martin Masai and Francis Openda will serve as trustees.
In a phone interview on Tuesday, Ms Koome, a senior news anchor at Standard Group's KTN channel, reckoned the development as a milestone that ought to be applauded.
“The fact that KEG members voted for the women leaders, means that they believe in women’s leadership and that is a big thing for me,” she said.
She outlined her agenda, which includes steering advocacy for gender mainstreaming, establishment and implementation of anti-sexual harassment policies by the media houses; defending the welfare of editors and journalists, as well as the freedom of the media.
“Having more women taking up leadership positions (in the media industry) is key for me,” she said.
Engage partners
To support their upward growth, she said, she would start with identifying the challenges impeding their advancement and engage with partners to tackle them.
“Is it because we are not empowering them? Is it because we are not giving them the opportunities? Is it because they are holding back because of the fear of harassment? Do we need to train them more to build their profile to be able to come out and speak for themselves?” she posed.
She said: “I’ll not lead the guild from the office. I have to go to the grassroots. I have to do a media tour to identify the existing gaps and discuss with my colleagues on how to seal them.”
On sexual harassment, she said, she will be pushing for the development of anti-sexual harassment policies in media houses that are yet to establish them. She also plans to engage with the media houses to ensure effective implementation of the policies.
“As guild together with other stakeholders, we are working on a (anti-)sexual harassment policy…we are going to ensure we have that policy as soon as possible,” she said.
She also committed to speaking against violation of the freedom of the media, emphasising that it is a right protected under the Kenyan Constitution.
“You remember on Wednesday last week , the CS (Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Administration of National Government, Kithure Kindiki) saying that we cannot go to Shakahola forest; but the Constitution has given the media the right to tell that story…so we need to protect media freedom,” she said.
