Remembering veteran journalist Joe Kadhi
A media icon has fallen—Joe Kadhi! I’m lost for words as colleague after colleague answers to the trumpet call on a journey of no return. Joe’s turn comes after Philip Ochieng and Hilary Ng’weno only last year, both of whom served Nation Media Group (NMG) in top editorial capacity from the 1960s through ’90s.
Although I ‘met’ him long before I set my eyes on him through his legendary “Joe Kadhi Asks Why?” Sunday Nation column, he became a dominant figure in my journalistic career as he was on the panel of interviewers that recruited me into the Nation. That was way back in February 1979. NMG was then known as Nation Newspapers Limited and was located on the now down-market Tom Mboya Street on premises incomparable to today’s iconic Nation Centre on Kimathi Street.
Together with Editor-in-Chief Joe Rodriguez, John Karungu and Chris Wang’ombe (Personnel), Joe opened the door to mainstream journalism to me—and much more.
My first impression of him was of an alert editor, who was held in awe by his staff, perhaps because of his weekly column that gave him constant visibility, but really more because of his hands-on approach to handling the content of the newspaper he was in charge of. This meant that he would swing easily from laughter to deep thought as he reflected on a story before him as managing editor.
Joe had a jocular side to him that saw him crack jokes, and those were his trademark. Indeed, some of the jokes were so practical that they would send staff reeling with laughter, bringing comic relief to what can be a very somber newsroom environment.
Although he was not my immediate supervisor—that role fell on Alfred Araujo, who had inherited Joe’s mantle on the Sunday Nation and later Chege Mbitiru, who died two years ago, Joe paid attention to my work, albeit after publication, pointing out in his gentle way whether I might have thought of angling my story differently.
I can testify that thanks to him, and to the editor-in-chief at the time Joe Rodriguez, I learned from the best that can only be obtained from hand-on immersion in a profession, which like many of my contemporaries was acquired from doing as opposed to theorising. Which is not to underrate the theoretical underpinnings of journalism.
It can almost be said that it is Joe Kadhi’s passion for quality journalism that saw him quit the newsroom for the classroom which he was to engage him until his retirement.
Outside the newsroom, I remember two significant interactions with Joe: one was at a National Aids Control Council (NACC) workshop in Naivasha and another was at a judges’ panel of the Media Council of Kenya’s Annual Journalism Excellence Awards (AJEA).
In the former, he caused consternation among our hosts, NACC, when he lectured a young man who had made a presentation on men who have sex with men—traditionally known as gays or homosexuals—in which he sought to glamorise the practice. The sharply dressed young man from head to toe, went on and on about his lifestyle, which the journalist in Joe could not let pass.
Once the young man was done, Joe tore his points to pieces, starting with the health implications of the practice. Joe’s argument based on his research as media practitioner-turned-lecturer was that men who have sex with men are in greater danger or contracting and spreading HIV/Aids—a reality the advocates of the gay lifestyle would wish to downplay.
Health apart, Joe made it clear that the practice was unnatural and the young man had no business lecturing the participants on the rights of practitioners of the gay lifestyle.
When he was done, the young man, who must have been in his 20s, but driving a top-of-the range car to complement his sharp dressing left the room stealthily, grabbed the steering of his car and drove off, leaving behind a hushed atmosphere. That was vintage Joe, who could not be cowed by donor considerations, his only concern being to tell truth to ‘donor bullying’.
My memory of that event is of a fearless Joe, who did not mind telling the truth about a lifestyle that has taken Kenyan youth by storm because of the flashy lifestyle that comes with it. Perhaps because of his venerable age, no one at the workshop dared challenge Joe’s stance, which under normal circumstances would have been met with boos and a chorus of “you’re being intolerant’.
As Kenyans mourn a media icon, one yearns for an independent media, which has not sold out to an alien lifestyle regardless of the dangers it poses especially the men who have sex with me—because their biological anatomy disadvantages the “wife”, allowing viruses to enter the bloodstream because of the forced sexual act.
My second and last encounter with Joe when we were both out of the NMG was at an Elementaita Hotel retreat, where a group of media personalities both in newsrooms and academia were involved in judging stories for the 2017 AJEA. Although there was every sign that Joe had advanced in age, he was alert and provided leadership at the forum even though he was not the panel chairperson.
His vast experience helped rethink the panellists’ decisions, leaving all of us satisfied that we had done a good job, thanks to the veteran’s guidance.
As Joe, who was laid to rest yesterday, rests with his ancestors, I can only imagine the welcome he has received, seeing he did not shy away from speaking his mind on a practice, which did not only offend his cultural and religious norms, but also put young people in danger.
Ms Kweyu is a revise editor with the Daily Nation.