Kenya Editors' Guild Statement on May 2025 Elections

The Kenya Editors' Guild will hold its elections on Saturday, May 24, 2025, during the Special General Meeting. The new leadership team will serve a two-year term.

President Zubeidah Kananu leads the outgoing Executive Council, which includes Vice President Ruth Nesoba, Council Members Millicent Awuor, Toepista Nabusoba, Linda Bach, Francis Mureithi, and Prof George Nyabuga, and Trustees Francis Openda, Martin Masai, and Arthur Okwemba.

Citizen TV's Yvonne Okwara will be challenging incumbent Zubeidah Kananu for the Presidency in the hotly contested election.

Other seats contested include the Council Member for Academia position where Dr. Julius Bosire of Technical University of Kenya and Nathan Masambu of Daystar University will compete. Agnes Mwangangi from Kenya Broadcasting Corporation will be challenging incumbent Toepista Nabusoba, an independent editor and formerly of the same station, for the Council Member for Radio position.

The following stand elected as they were unopposed during the nominations:

• Francis Openda: Vice President
• Ruth Nesoba: Trustee
• Martin Masai: Trustee
• Nganga Mbugua: Trustee
• Linda Bach: Council Member - Print
• Millicent Awuor: Council Member - TV
• Kenfrey Kiberenge: Council Member - Online Media

This year's election is not just about leadership—it is about direction. The media sector in Kenya is at a crossroads. Faced with shrinking advertising revenues, aggressive digital competition, and job losses across newsrooms, the next Guild leadership will be tasked with reimagining the media landscape for a new era.

Among the urgent priorities for the incoming leadership will be:

• Advocating for media sustainability and equitable distribution of government advertising, to level the playing field for both legacy and emerging outlets

• Development of new regulatory approaches that protect press freedom while responding to misinformation and the changing dynamics of content production.

• Fair compensation for news publishers by Big Tech and AI companies, to ensure creators of original journalism are not exploited in the digital economy.

• Expanding training and innovation support to help newsrooms transition to digital-first, audience-centered journalism models.

In recent years the Guild has reasserted itself as a resolute defender of media freedom, pushing back against government overreach, unlawful arrests of journalists, and threats to editorial independence. It has also deepened collaboration with development partners and critical sectors of the economy, and launched initiatives to promote impactful, ethical, and solutions-oriented journalism.

Since the establishment of a permanent secretariat in 2019, the Guild has grown its institutional capacity, expanding from a single staff member to a dynamic team of six, enabling it to manage an ambitious programme portfolio with continued donor support.

The upcoming elections will be supervised by Sophie Kaibiria, an advocate and member of the Law Society of Kenya.

The Kenya Editors Guild

Issued in NAIROBI on MAY 23, 2025