Kenyan Journalists have unequivocally rejected an invitation for awards by the corruption-riddled Kenya Pipeline Corporation.
While the journalists have been attending the awards since they were launched, and the winners been receiving trophies and cash prizes, this time they have have said no.
Reason?
Reacting to an invitation by the oil company to attend the Energy Journalism Excellence Award (EJEA), the Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) said the festival was an “affront to independent journalism in Kenya.”
The Kenya Editors Guild also questioned the integrity of the company, noting that given the concluded and on-going fraud investigations going on in the company, they wouldn’t attend the function.
“The Executive Council of the Guild wishes to register its concern that the EJEA awards as currently structured can be deemed to be an affront on independent journalism in Kenya,” a letter from the Guild’s chief executive Rosalia Omungo stated.
Compromise reporting
“The awards as planned seeks to put journalists in a situation where they are to be celebrated by subjects of their coverage, all in the claim of rewarding excellence. Naturally, this constitutes a major conflict of interest, a grave matter for editors in particular and the larger fraternity of free media,” she added.
Test of Integrity
“We wish to disassociate ourselves from the awards because we believe the awards lack integrity. We are aware that some of the companies who have sponsored these awards have either been investigated or are being investigated over corruption and cannot stand the test of integrity that the media fraternity as the watchdog would like to associate with,” KUJ Secretary General Erick Oduor said.
The Categories for the Awards include:
- Energy Journalist of the Year
- Energy Policies and Regulations
- Energy Efficiency and Green Initiatives
- Oil and Gas Upstream Story of the Year
- Oil and Gas Downstream story of the year
- Geothermal Power Generation Story of the Year
- Power Infrastructure Story of the Year
- Power Distribution Story of the Year
- Nuclear Story of the Year
- Energy Finance Story of the Year
- Community Relations story of the Year
- Photojournalist of the Year
Event Organizers
Energy parastatals involved in the process are the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), Kenya Power, Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Kenya Nuclear Electricity Board (KNEB), National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK), Geothermal Development Corporation (GDC), Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited (KPRL), Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO) and the Rural Electrification Authority (REA).