By Gordon Opiyo via FB
The Great Wealth Transfer
The Media Takeover…..
Sometime in 2015 we sat in the Safaricom Boardroom as we waited for the then CEO, Bob Colymore…
We were representatives of 30 TV stations that had just been licensed, and were full of hope… And Colymore gave us business of about 500k per month for a start…. We were excited…. Getting Ads from Safaricom is the dream of any media house….
But as we celebrated the victory at Safaricom, our minds were set on the new State Agency called Government Advertising Agency….
Nobody exactly knew why this body was created….
The usual language of “cutting waste and improving efficiency” was used to justify the creation of the Agency.
The Government adverts formed 70% of all business…. Government is big… Right from Schools, Hospitals, Universities, Colleges, All Parastatals, and State Departments…
All one needed to do was to sell his Media house to any part of Government he or she targeted. If the proposal was accepted, the two parties would sign a contract and deliver…
This arrangement made it possible for anyone who had a good idea and vision to run a media house and make money…..
Before the Government Advertising Agency was created, anyone with a small budget could start a media house and make tidy sum of money…… Create employment and contribute in content generation……
But the Billionaire Clique had other ideas…. They didn’t want the media space to expand…
So, in 2017 the head of Public Service gave a circular that banned any Government Agency from advertising without going through GAA…. And with that, the Media in Kenya was killed…. Now, getting business from Government has nothing to do with innovation, content or niche….. It is about how you are connected to State House….
In one circular, Uhuru’s Government killed the media…. And just like that.. Only Media houses belonging to Gideon Moi, Kenyatta Family, Aga Khan, SK Macharia and Kirubi are getting money from the Government…..
If you were not born in the privileged families, you stand 0% chance of running a media house profitably… They have shut out others…
The money that used to circulate among common men and women is now exclusively reserved for Billionaires……..
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