Boaz Omori (late)
Editor-in-Chief
A record number of 17
African Nations achieved
independence in the single year of 1960. Thus, the Nation/Taifa group of newspapers
could not have been born at a more appropriate time, when world attention was
switching to vigorous emergent Africa.
From the very start we
were identified with the mood of the indigenous peoples of East Africa,
bubbling with enthusiasm and energy, ready to meet challenge self-rule in
influencing world affairs.
1960 was the year of
the historic Lancaster House Conference on Kenya’s Constitutional Development.
The time had come when we would hear of the rightful aspirations of the people
and be informed accurately on the intentions of Nationalism which would soon
lead to Nationhood.
Our reportage, comment
and general handling of the internal and external scene during that fateful
year immediately earned us the nickname “Uhuru Paper.” For the first time in
the history of newspaper journalism in East Africa, the people had found in us
a platform of expression which they could identify as their own.
Though the Nation/Taifa group of newspapers
had now established a firm base from which we have rapidly grown over the last
decade, it was a painful, upward struggle every step of it.
Two instances
illustrate the problem – even the danger – we faced at the beginning.
By giving full
expression to indigenous news and views, we were regarded as agitators by the
colonial rulers. Their Conservative supporters did not give us a chance; they
thought we would fade away just as the hoped the desire for self-rule would
disappear.
Even when it was clear
that the tide of Nationalism could not be
stopped, we were denounced and threatened when, in 1963, we asked our readers
to return the KANU party in the general elections which led to independence.
We had taken a course
which we believed was right and inevitable, and there was no looking back. Our
initiative and optimism were rewarded when knowledge and understanding of what
made the wananchi tick became so important for both internal and
external relations that thousands of all races, creeds and persuasions were to
read the Nation and stay with us.
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