Exciting times for Kenyan journalists

These are exciting times for Kenyan journalists ahead of the general and local government elections on 27 December.

Members of the fourth estate are now as fired up as the presidential, parliamentary and civic candidates, armed to the tooth with their tools of trade: the mighty pen, tape recorders, laptops and television cameras.

Over 500 Kenyan and a further 50 foreign journalists will be covering the polls, and will be part of over 1,000 observers who will monitor the election of the head of state, 210 members of parliament and over 2,000 councillors.

Journalists are now the most sought-after professionals in the country of 33 million people, thanks to the role they will play in either creating or destroying the careers of old and upcoming politicians.

This is a big contrast to a few months ago, when some of the outgoing members of parliament and cabinet ministers looked down on journalists, with one of them referring to them as