Just got off the phone with my senior Kamau Munene, a veteran in the journalism profession.
Our intercourse revolved around why we have been committing the atrocious act of subjecting candidates for County Executive Committee (CEC) membership and Chief Officer position to vetting by people of lesser academic qualifications.
I opine that if you're going to debrief a Degree, Masters or Doctorate degree holder, you ought to be of the same level of education, otherwise the whole exercise will be a shambolic waste of time.
Populists are advocating for the minimum academic qualification for elective posts starting with the Ward Representative to be as basic as a Driver's License. That's quite popular, but leaves a terrible taste in the mouth.
It would be very interesting to see a country with a whole new crop of educated lawmakers. Let us see how bad they can be, because the current argument is that education does not make one a leader.
Similarly, in the media, we also need an academic standard. We cannot interview Engineers, Doctors, Lawyers and other professionals, yet some of us have not seen the inside of a journalism class.
Good idea
The Media Council of Kenya was a good idea that has totally failed. We have journalists today who did not even complete their 'O' level education and are embarrassing themselves every day in the field.
You wonder how one can be trusted to act as an informant if they are not informed. That's how the information conveyed gets distorted and we end up with a misinformed society.
Even those that have practiced for many years without papers need to go back to school and acquire knowledge. You cannot become a lawyer by learning some legalese or a doctor by knowing pills.
Victor Bwire, I invite you to have a keen look at the guys gallivanting up and down these streets flashing Media Council badges; characters who cannot sustain a smart conversation for five minutes.
These quacks have infiltrated this profession and institutionalised payola such that no story worth telling will see the light of day when there is nothing pocketed. And even with the token, good stories also die due to poor packaging.
Let people go to proper schools and get an education, not necessarily for employment, but for their own good. If not, let them try business or crime. We have too many jobless graduates.
We cannot be a country that despises education!
By MUTUGI NJUE
MWINGI TIMES for timely and authoritative news.
My Senior Mutugi M'Njue It's sad and demeaning how people want to be in leadership and profession fields yet fail to equip themselves with requisite qualifications.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, people fail to understand Journalism is the art and Science of selecting and processing information, intelligence for dissemination to the public. Failure to understand that, has led to untrustworthy, no code of ethics and voice of extremist groups that spread unbiased and hate news in mainstream media.
Bottom line, an informed and knowledgeable person who has gone through profession training is a prerequisite for championing development and vice versa.