Tributes pour in for Themor, veteran newscaster who shaped radio listening
Veteran broadcaster Khamisi Themor who died on Thursday.
Kenyans have been united in sharing fond memories of the media landscape in past years following the death of veteran broadcaster Khamisi Themor.
For years, Mr Themor’s voice was synonymous with the lunchtime news bulletin, where sometimes Cabinet ministers were hired and fired.
“Still reminds me of my days in primary coming home for lunch,” tweeted Hosea Kirwa.
“When he came on, I’m sure ministers were on the edge of their seats because they didn't know if they had been fired,” Sonia Gakuru also tweeted.
Mr Themor died aged 72 at the Coptic Hospital in Nairobi on Thursday. The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), his former employer, said on its website that he was undergoing treatment after being admitted on Wednesday. He was complaining of stomach pains.
“Doctors suspected the problem to be a blockage in the colon, for which a surgery was undertaken,” the post said. “His condition, however, got worse and he was rushed to the high dependency unit where he succumbed at around 6.30pm.”
Various personalities have paid tributes to Mr Themor, who worked at KBC for two decades.
“The first radio voice I remember on VoK as a four-year-old is that of Khamis Themor,” posted Nation Media Group’s Multimedia Editor, Oliver Mathenge.
“He gave us the news each day as VoK (Voice of Kenya) turned to KBC that year. He is not just a pioneer of this industry but a great media scholar,” he added.
ODM’s communications director Philip Etale posted that Mr Themor was one of “the best bosses I ever had in my initial days of journalism”.
The tributes have also brought up some moments of humour, with some social media users confessing that they thought the broadcaster’s name was “Tembo”.
In a past interview with KBC, Mr Themor said he was at KBC by 1978 when Mzee Jomo Kenyatta died. He added that he was thrust into anchoring news when the man he was to direct fell sick one day. “One time, I was to direct Stephen Kikumu. At a quarter to seven, his wife called us to say he was ill and had been taken to hospital.
There was no other reader. The chief news editor then was Mr Mangoka. He told me, ‘You have directed this for long. Go read,’” he said. “But I didn’t have a jacket. I took his. I took his tie too, and I read the news. And that’s how I began,” added Mr Themor.
He is survived by his widow and five children.
