Nairobi: Information, Communication and Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo has committed to improving the facilitation of the Kenya News Agency (KNA) to ensure the agency can effectively inform Kenyans about governmental efforts aimed at improving their lives.
According to Kenya News Agency, during an unscheduled visit to the Directorate of Information's KNA National Editorial Desk, Kabogo highlighted the need for better information dissemination to counter public criticism of government activities. He emphasized that the government, under President William Ruto, is actively engaging in new projects and completing existing ones, which often go unnoticed due to inadequate communication.
Kabogo acknowledged the challenge of insufficient resources hindering KNA officers from collecting stories in the field. He assured that despite budgetary constraints, efforts would be made to secure funding for the agency's activities.
Director of Information Mr. Joseph Kipkoech identified underfunding and understaffing as significant obstacles for the Directorate, citing a shortage of reporters, videographers, and photographers due to inadequate recruitment.
During his visit, Kabogo also toured the photographic library containing digitized historical multimedia records. Esther Wanjau, Director of Information in charge of ICT and Digitization, emphasized the need for a Multimedia Management System to make historical images accessible to the public and generate revenue.
Kabogo expressed his support for a Digital Assets Management system to manage KNA's multimedia assets, enhancing the agency's ability to inform the public about Kenya's history and governmental activities.
KNA, established in 1963, is a government-operated national news agency tasked with gathering, processing, and disseminating news across Kenya's 47 counties, 25 Sub-County offices, and through 11 regional publications and printing centers.