Popular Journalist Dickens Wasonga Is Dead

Chairman of the Kisumu Journalists Network (KNJ) Dickens Wasonga is dead.

Wasonga’s car was involved in a head-on collision along the Kakamega-Kisumu road next to Lake Basin Mall early Friday morning

Wasonga’s best-known period as a Journalist has been in the print media as both correspondent and columnist for Group Africa’s publication The Star. Wasonga cut his teeth in journalism as a reporter for the Nation Media Group as well as corresponding for The Citizen in Tanzania.

A jovial and outgoing personality, (although sometimes pushy and rigid) Wasonga plied his trade in the greater Nyanza region and earned respect among administrators and professional peers, alike.

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When he was elected as Chairman of the Kisumu Journalists Network late last year Wasonga decried the poor medical cover offered to reporters on the frontline.

“It has always been that when any one of our members falls ill or is involved in an accident, we usually have no recourse but to depend on our pockets; thus, it’s my dream to pursue and actualize a group insurance cover for all our members to aid in case of any eventuality.”

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Fate caught up with Wasonga before he fully actualized that dream.

He will be remembered, though, for his efforts in setting up a vibrant cooperative among journalists in Kisumu and for his efforts to bring on board freelance journalists, always encouraging them to register with the Kenya Union of Journalists.

Another area of innovation which fate caught up with him before implementation was the proposal to set up an independent news website in Nyanza. He had a dream to create a website that would serve as a platform for journalists who are not affiliated with any specific media house to air their content and engage professional and experienced journalists in running that website.

News of his death has been met with shock and disbelief as friends and family struggle to come to terms with the realisation that the jovial Dickens is no more.