A few days ago, this community site carried a Kenyan’s petition to Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i urging him to Withdraw Kiswahili Short Story ” Tumbo Lisiloshiba ” Over Integrity and corruption. CS Matinang’i’s silence over this issue is deafening maybe because he is busy campaigning for the Looting Jubilee regime and forgetting that there is a lot of rot within the education sector he should be fixing.
A Kenyan of goodwill emailed us an analysis of the Kenyan Publishing Industry as highlighted hereunder. We still hope the overrated Matiang’i will get time off his busy ” Jubilee Campaign spree ” and sort out this mess.
Matiangi MUST stop these cheap Thrills of raiding schools and sort real issues like corruption within the publishing industry. Only simple and basic 8-4-4 mindsets can buy such cheap thrills and theatrics. Caption :Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi. He has refused to act on a story of public interest this community site raised a few days ago because he is busy campaigning for the looting Jubilee luminary and engaging in cheap thrills and theatrics of raiding schools. Dear Cyprian, I read your post on the petition to CS Matiang'i on the selection of set books with a lot of interest. This is shocking and saddening, to say the least. To have people feed their greed at the expense of Kenya's children is despicable and Matiang'i should crack the whip on all those concerned: publishers, KICD and ministry of education staff. They should also face the full force of the law amd I hope they will be investigated by EACC.
After your story, I decided to find out more about who these publishers are and now I am thoroughly depressed. They recently had an AGM and elected the following people: Lawrence Njagi of Mountaintop - I understand he is a well known wheeler dealer who has shady deals with at least 7 Counties including Mombasa and Makueni where he has made a kill through corrupt deals. Simon Sossion of Spotlight Publishers - he is said to have bribed to buy the slots for 2 set books in 2013. Prior to that, he worked with Longhorn as publishing manager. It is here that he made his money colluding with printers to get kickbacks in exchange for giving them printing jobs. He stole manuscripts from Longhorn to start his own publishing house. Simon Ngige of Longhorn Publishers - he is a known corporate raider. His last job was at East African Educational Publishers (EAEP) which he left on it's knees after shady printing deals, bank loans, car purchases, etc. He is said to have made tens of millions at Longhorn from kickbacks by Indian printers. To convince his board that he can turn the company around and increase income, he went around buying companies like Law Africa and signed exclusive distribution contracts with organisations like Bible Society of Kenya and Scripture Union who have since cancelled the contracts as they learned they were conned and their books are now being pirated. These actions have led to a major cashflow crisis in these companies. Kamau Kiarie of East African Educational Publishers - He is known for his forays in the regional markets where he has made his money. Most importantly however is that this company does not pay authors royalties, accumulating into tens of millions. Some authors have died pleading for even a few thousand shillings to meet their hospital bills, but their desperate cries always fall on deaf ears. When authors die, they simply write off the royalties. Some printers have taken the company to court for winding up for non-payment of bills that have accumulated for many years. Mary Mbuthia of Moran Publishers - in the first place, I learned that this woman is in the executive council illegally. According to their own (Kenya publishers) constitution, only CEOs/MDs of member companies are elligible for election. This lady is a general manager at Moran, the MD is Mr. David Muita. She is serving in the Council as a proxy for the MD who is said to have spent Kenya shillings 7 million to bribe for the approval of the Kiswahili set book "Mbaya Wetu" but after the cancellation of the first process, they were awarded "Memories We Lost". Musyoki Muli of Spear Sharp and Pan African Christian University - he was sacked from Longhorn Publishers after serving only 2 years as MD due to shady property deals in Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. John Mwazemba of Oxford University Press - seems to be the only person with a clean record.
If these are the publishing industry "leaders", what should we expect when the new curriculum is rolled out? Or is this the reason the cartel has lined itself up?
Thank you for highlighting the story and for opening my eyes. As a parent with children in school, I have every reason to worry, in fact, I am depressed.
Regards,