Leave Radio Amani alone, it has done its work...*

I have heard a number of Catholics in Nakuru complain that Radio Amani is not worth its salt. They always compare it with Waumini Radio and say Radio Amani is not 'Catholic enough.' 

And I have always wondered what exactly being 'Catholic enough' is and how a radio station is supposed to be so. 

But deep inside me I am convinced, since it went on air in 2009, Radio Amani has done its role, and done it right, in being a 'Catholic Radio' and being 'Catholic enough.'

When I first heard about Radio Amani, I was a final year student at the Njoro Campus of Egerton University. One day the then head of Communications of the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru, David Omwoyo came to talk about the project that was to give birth to the radio.

It was dubbed 'The Bishop's Radio Campaign. He sold us book marks with the Karl Marx's message that religion is the opium for the poor. But he went on to explain that religion ought not be so. He said that they were in the process of setting up a radio that would celebrate religion in the practical sense of life. That was in 2006, around June, if my memory serves me right.

In September 2009 when I finally joined the radio, the message had not changed, at least in him. Mark you, those of us who pioneered Radio Amani had more interaction with Omwoyo than any other person in the Diocese in terms of what the radio was supposed to achieve.

So when Omwoyo introduced Radio Amani not as a "Catholic Radio" but as a "a Community Radio run by the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru" we took that and implemented the goal. 

Our mandate was to 'preach peace' in a region that had known a history of ethnic and political violence for decades. We were to talk to everyone, even the atheists, since peace is a cross cutting issue. It has as many stakeholders as it has victims once it is lost.

Within a short time, we had brought so many people on board. We hardly had any resources to pool an audience apart from the on-air-talk. But we managed to have a cosmopolitan audience. These became our ambassadors of peace. 

We even had Muslims in our fan base. Not that they didn't know the radio was 'Catholic run.' In fact the Muslim Community was so 'cool' with us reporting their issues. 

I remember leaders of Protestant churches would call in during a 'purely  Catholic show' I used to host on Sunday morning, remind their members to go to church and request for a Catholic song. 

By the way even Muslims called in to request for a Catholic/Christian song. And in town I always met political party fanatics who would always ask about "our radio."

That to me is the very embodiment of peace. And I bet 'The Prince of Peace' after whom the radio is named would have loved it that way. 

However those who felt we were not worth it always asked why we were not reciting the rosary all the time? Or why we were not having preachers all the time? Or why we were playing secular music? But mainly, why we were not like Waumini Radio, the radio which is run by the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Kenya, and based in Nairobi.

They felt we were not fulfilling the mandate of the radio. They wanted us to ooze Catholicism, yet our mandate was to demonstrate it. To live it. 

Look, the real Catholic is a sinner. He is an inciter. He is an ethnic monster to say the least. He is the one who killed Fr. Michael Ithondeka in the 2007/2008 post election violence. And he killed him with his rosary hanging on his neck. 

This is the Catholic I have met in a disco several times in Nakuru on a Saturday night. We danced Ken wa Maria's song 'Wakatimba Kumbafu.' And we did it in the presence of our Parish Priest. But on Sunday I found him in Church. Singing in the choir. Leading in the 'Matega' procession while our Priest stood with the gait of Jesus himself to receive the gifts. The real Catholic is not 'Catholic enough.' 

In essence then if Radio Amani was not Catholic enough, then it was 'real Catholic.' Because real Catholicism is not 'Catholic enough.' 

So leave Radio Amani alone. It has done its work. But, should the diocesan administration feel it wants to change its identity, it can do so. 

*I no longer work with Radio Amani. I work with Egerton University as a  journalist and media trainer.