A TIMELY REJOINDER TO MR. ODHIAMBO T. OKETCH'S NOTES

   Naturally, I do always like to handle any issues pertaining to my journalistic work in a soberly manner.  In most cases, retaliation is not in my blood.
 
  Furthermore, I hope Mr. Odhiambo T. Oketch is not hell-bent to drag our feet into discussing "Agwambo" in this forum for his selfish and egotistic interests, something, which he appeared to be nursing grudgingly.
 
  Here, I stop and offer no further comment.  This is because it is my own
conviction that by doing so and carrying out such debates via online media
service, such argument could other way around only serve the best interests of
the hostile forces, which have always plotted against the Luo community.  And
the same could be retrogressive and detrimental to our own son who is currently in the frontline chasing and courting for a beautiful girl, who is very cunning and elusive (the presidency).  There are so many double-faced destructive agents who are in one hand acting as the most loyal, overzealous and fanatic supporters of "Agwambo" but on the other hand they are known to be acting as the bunch of highly skilled agent provocateurs.
 
  Due to his seemingly amateurish and childish rejoinders, Mr. Odhiambo T.
Oketch had opined, I quote, "Because Leo Odera Omol cannot be heard in the
mainstream of media in Kenya, he is getting a willing forum to peddle his
distortion."
 
  Surely, how did this Migosi Odhiambo T. Oketch come to such a conclusion that my story was "distorted" and yet he was not there.  If at all he was there, can he enlighten us by giving his own version precisely describing what transpired during the Nairobi meeting?  Why is he wanting for me to set an agenda for him?
 
  In all fairness, he should have waited for the participants to refute my report.  Otherwise, he should shut his big mouth and stop acting like a political hireling and surrogate targeting loose change for handouts!!
 
  May this gentleman from Yimbo be given a brief dossier about my credentials in journalism dating back to February 1958.
 
  Leo Odera Omolo was one of the pioneer few African journalists who joined the then all Mzungu packed editorial staff of the East African Standard in 1957.
They were only four Africans among close to 40 European editorial staff.   These were; - Aubrey Kachingwe (Nyasaland now Malawi), Ali Kisseka (Uganda), Henry Gathingira (Kenya) and Leo Odear Omolo (Kenya).  I am sure this was long enough before Mr. Odhiambo T. Oketch's first birthday!!
 
  Secondly, I was among the few privileged top African writers who joined the
late Mr. Charles Hayes and Mr. Michael Curtist who were hired by H.H. The Aga Khan to launch the DAILY NATION, the English version of the then popular sister paper TAIFA LEO, which had hit the news vendors two years earlier.
  For information of Mr. Odhiambo T. Oketch, the first few copies of the DAILY NATION were no better than what he had described as "Gutter Press."  We were printing and publishing between six and eight pages just like the current WEEKLY Citizen or INDEPENDENT, which Mr. Oketch had described arrogantly as the "Gutter Press."  But the DAILY NATION grew much faster due to the fact that H.H. The Aga Khan had injected into its investment millions of shillings.  Why can't the likes of Mr. Odhiambo Oketch and his friends invest into such enterprises?
 
  He can do so by prevailing upon the Luo Politicians he is purporting to
support to the hilt to invest money into such enterprises.  In such a situation,
he will be free to write exclusively for the Luo cause instead of deploying
Hitlerism tactics, trying to gag the free flow of information by way of
intimidation.  Are we being told that in Raila Odinga's regime, the freedom of
expression would be curtailed instantly?
 
  Furthermore, in June 1965, I became the first black Kenyan to hold the
prestigious position of the Public Relations Manager with the Brooke Bond
Equatorial Limited covering major events and editing in-house monthly magazine.  My work entailed covering news and events within the Brooke Family Tea Plantations and processing in several African nations like Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.
 
  From 1969, I served in various news syndicating groups as a foreign correspondent based in Kenya, but covering events in the best part of Anglophone Africa.  I was also credited to the OAU from the date of its inception in Addis Ababa in 1963 and attended all its annual meetings of Council of Ministers and summits of the Heads of State and governments up to 1996, during which I rubbed shoulder with many African presidents, ministers and prime ministers.
 
  Mr. Odhiambo T. Oketch should be told that I have been involved in the
coverage of both cold and real conventional wars in African and the Middle East.   At one time, but at a high risk I became the only source of information to the world during the first weeks of the liberation war that toppled the despotic
dictator Idi Amin in Uganda.
 
  After all these failures and successes, why does Mr. Odhiambo T. Oketch still
wish me to be heard in the mainstream media in Kenya?  For how long?  Why does he think naively that anyone who is talented must be heard in the mainstream media in Kenya?  The argument is shallow and hollow!!
 
  I am informed that Migosi Odhiambo T. Oketch hails from Yimbo.  But I am
afraid to say I cannot take him seriously due to the fact that the Jo-Yimbo
group is a collection of 53 sub-clans of the Bantus who were invaded, overrun
and colonized by the Joka-Owiny who are the real descendants of Joka-Ramogi and after getting a thorough beating, the Jo-Mweche magalagala were subdued and ruled for years by Joka-Dimo.
 
  There is a total of 53 Bantus sub-clans such as Jo-Wahumadhi, Jo-Waluwanga, Jo-Wareje, Jo-Abalungo, Jo-Wahenye, Jo-Walowa, Jo-Wabu, Jo-Wasonge, Jo-Abaludhi, Jo-Wagugwa, Jo-Wawamba, Jo-Wahundha, Jo-Abakholo, Jo-Abakhweri, Jo-Wasenge, Jo-Waonge, Jo-Abenge, Jo-Waranda, Jo-Wanyejra, Jo-Walwan, Jo-Kamreme, Jo-Wanduri, Jo-Walany, Jo-Wasawa, Jo-Wahwa, Jo-Wasimira, Jo-Wahaga, Jo-Wasenge, Jo-Abalusere, Jo_Wahumadhi, which sub-clans do you belong to among the above Jo-Mwache group?
 
  The origins of most of these Jo-Yimbo people could be traced in Samia,
Bunyala, Busoga, Buganda (Abahunja-Uganda).  Others came from Bunyore and all in all, we call them "Mweche magalagala.  They are short-tempered people who despite their well-illustrated academic qualifications, they can show a lot of naivety when under pressure of live argument of this magnitude.  They are unlike the indigenous Luos whose vocabulary is full of humour.
 
  I wish this gentleman from Yimbo knew that I am always carrying a heavy
"chebunyo" rungu with me and that I am the acknowledged expert in all the
fighting arts and therefore capable of teaching a lesson that he may live to
regret for the rest of his life time.  He should have stopped his nuisance and
nonsensical 'fitina' or malice once and for all.  I hope Wuon Oketch now knows
the person he is arrogantly despising in his comments.

 
  Leo Odera Omolo
  leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

The writer is LUOCOME REPORTER based in Kisumu. We urge all LUOCOME members with pressing issues pertaining to media and press releases to kindly contact him from any where in world. He will assist you to get true picture of your Village Developement.
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