Gone are the days when media personalities not only practiced neutrality when it came to politics, but altogether kept a safe distance from all political activities. Veteran radio presenter and show host Fred Obachi Machoka, popularly known as the blackest man in black Africa, has become the latest high profile journalist to make it nearly obvious who he will be supporting, or rather, won’t be supporting.
The stage for all this was the late night interview on Citizen TV hosted by the station’s presenter Waihiga Mwaura. The guests on his show were former Budalang’I member of parliament Ababu Namwamba, and America-based Law Professor Makau Mutua.
In the course of the interview, the two got engaged in a heated exchange, with Professor Makau saying Raila is not and has never been part of the Jubilee government while Ababu Namwamba arguing that DP Ruto has been sidelined and is nowadays the DP only in name.
As the show was coming to an end, among those sending in feedback were Fred Obach Machoka. His question was quite telling. Dismissing Ruto’s defence, he simply told Waihiga to ask the gentlemen who exactly is the Deputy President in Kenya because listening to the arguments, it was almost impossible to ascertain who is.
While he didn’t unequivocally say he would be voting for Raila Odinga, this came as close as possible to making it quite obvious that he would never vote for the DP.
Machoka, one of the longest-serving journalists in the country was surprisingly a General Service Unit (GSU) officer before deciding to quit and join the media in 1975.
Despite being new to journalism, the determined young man worked hard to improve his skills. The former program host, the late Said Sonko, was very patient with him and taught him everything. He also went back to college to pursue public relations and advertising.
He established himself in commercial broadcasting. Coming up with promotional concepts about companies was his forte. The most popular shows he broadcasted are:
• Seng’enge ni ng’ombe
• Ugua pole na Lucozade
• Sportsman ni sawa hasa
• Mchanganyiko maalum na Bitchman
The accomplished man also hosted two music shows on KCB: Talk of Time and Music Time.
He is now known for his wildly popular show Rogaroga on Citizen TV.
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