On behalf of the entire KSB crew, I take this opportunity to thank all readers who have continued to show interest in the blog site. It has been a difficult year and many stories have come and gone. We are now approaching Christmas before closing down the year 2009 to begin a new leg in 2010.
As some readers will acknowledge, it has not been possible to fulfill all the expectations of all readers during 2009. I get a stream of emails on a daily basis with different requests and demands which could not all be met.
There are readers who have been very interested in specific stories and who did place requests for follow ups but due to time factor and a lot of developments in the Kenya-Stockholm scene, some stories had to be left hanging in the middle way as new stories took center stage. I hope that in the coming year, there will be an improvement.
Likewise, there are readers who brought in material which did not make it to the blog site. This was not because the submissions were not good enough but because there were more interesting tales that cropped up after the submissions. For this reason, certain submissions never saw day light at KSB. We hope that these readers are not bitter and that they will continue to make submissions in the coming year in the spirit of building KSB.
Scandal is a very sensitive issue at KSB and whenever one explodes, there is normally a mixture of excitement and disappointment. Naturally, there are readers who enjoy scandal while those involved in scandal may be least enthusiastic about them. There are readers who have very good contacts with KSB staff members but at the same time, they sometimes get involved in scandal which sometimes finds expression at KSB.
One positive development about the above situation is that KSB contacts have, with time, learnt to separate “Blogship” with “Friendship” so that they do not mix the two. If a KSB contact is involved in scandal and the storo finds its way to the site, the latest experience has shown that these contacts do not take matters personally but rather, view it “blogally”. This is very encouraging because such reactions are signs of maturity and acceptance of KSB as a media where both positive and negative presentations are not just inevitable but also part of the game.
We don’t name names especially where scandal is involved in order to protect the identities and integrities of those involved. This is the basic rule of the game and we intend to keep this policy in the future.
Then, there are the so called scandals which happened but never made it to KSB. The truth is that either we did not know about them or we just ran out of time. The problem with scandals is that they are normally timeless and one scandal that was missed in 2009 may find its way at the blog site in 2010 although this is not a matter to dwell on right now. We can only hope that next year, there will be fewer scandals to report, a situation that every Kenya-Stockhoklmer looks forward to.
Sometimes, an event is announced at KSB but when it takes place, agents might not be on the ground to cover it. Some readers have taken offence with KSB for failing to turn up at functions to report on what happened after the events were announced at the blog site. The bottom line is that KSB runs on a voluntary basis and we are under no obligation to cover everything that happens in Kenya-Stockholm.
We might have had a miss here and there but it has to be appreciated that since KSB is not running on any funds from anywhere, stuff can go missing at the blog because of problems with logistics. For this reason, we would urge our readers to go slowly when it comes to blame when an event is not reported here.
Sometimes, staff members are at the scene of action but very little is reported at KSB. Once again, it boils down to time. It takes a lot of effort to process information and avail it to the public once it is collected and this is why established Media houses employ journalists to do the job. No one has employed anybody to work at KSB and so failure of news delivery cannot be blamed on KSB management.
What I can say is that we will continue to strive to bring the news to readers as much as possible but in cases where lapses are evident, we will not take any responsibility. The presence of a KSB agent at a function does not automatically translate into publication of the news at the blog site and no one should take offence.
Having made those points, I take this opportunity to wish all KSB readers a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. I hope that readers will continue to find the blog site useful in the coming year while I also hope that 2010 will be a very exciting year both at KSB and in the daily lives of individual readers. “May your Christmas be Merry and your New year Happy”.
Okoth Osewe
KSB President
About the Author
KSB,your x-mass wishes is accepted.I may reiterate that despite that this year has been drench with difficult issues and scandals concerning wakenya in stockholm,you have managed to maintain a non-partisan status in all the stories you brought to our attention as readers and as people whose concerns are either directly or indirectly related to the latter.Your contribution towards
these issues is highly appreciated,alluta continua!!!!
Well KSB merry christmas to you and wish you a happy new year.I must say that this year KSB improved a lot by being neutral to all scandals,and more so KSB has done a good job by bringing Kenyans together in times of sorrow and happiness.A job well done is worth appreciation.
Osewe as the president alluta continua.Information is the future.
KSB: Well said. We are charging the batteries for 2010 and sky is the limit. KSB is available and reachable. We intend to expand horizons in the coming year.