Businessmen from the Kenyan Somali community have joined hands to produce the very first newspaper that will champion the interests of the Somali community, The Eastleigh Voice.
Production of the newspaper, which also has a website going by the same name, started last week after months of piloting the idea.
The newspaper is the brainchild of Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan who had toyed with the idea for years and had approached several journalists from mainstream media houses to help him actualise it.
He has also teamed up with other businessmen from Eastleigh, the most notable being Asmali Media, Events, and Public Relations Company.
With over 2.5 million Somalis in Kenya, according to the last census, Eastleigh Voice, which is the first newspaper to be launched in the market in the last five years when others are reducing circulation or shutting down, has a solid target audience.
The idea, according to those in the know, is to use the newspaper, which has the backing of top political leaders from north eastern and pastrolist communities, to push for Somali nationalism in preparation for a Somali to run for the presidency.
Somali nationalism is centred on uniting the Somali people who share a common language, religion, culture and ethnicity,
In order to actualise this dream, the news publication has embarked on a poaching spree hiring writers and editors from other newspapers. In fact, its managing editor is currently a very senior editor in one of the two biggest newspapers in the country but works incognito at the newspaper’s headquarters in California, Eastleigh.
Others who have joined the paper include former Daily Nation’s crime reporters Mary Wambui, Amina Wako and Joseph Ndunda. The publication has also hired former Nation Media Group Mombasa correspondent Farhiya Hussein.
The publication has also brought in former Standard Media Group’s digital editor Patel Okumu in addition to Apollo Ochieng, veteran journalist Yassin Juma among others.
