NTV's Debarl Owns Dr Kidero

[destiny]

Debarl Inea of NTV who touched some raw nerves!




I had just switched on the TV after waking up only to be confronted Dr Kidero who hopes to be our city's governor barking mad. He was quite irritated to say the least. Apparently he was not being asked the questions that he wanted to hear. He appeared to have lost his cool and at one point snarled at Debarl, "Who are you working for?"

If someone is going for an interview (live!) or aspiring for those top seats, then they must open up for scrutiny in a cool and calm manner. I'm sure Kidero lost thousands of potential votes this morning. He also demeaned the host by underrating him, at one point he menacingly asked him "What's your background if you don't know what a company is, what are you doing here?" That was just rude! I will be shocked if Debarl didn't get a few slaps after the show had ended.

Kidero was bitter because Debarl piled pressure on his tenure as the CEO of Mumias Sugar where he left under a cloud of controversy, some issues are still in court. The presenter appeared well prepared with dozens of documents to back up or folllow various points raised. Despite the rude guest, he remained cool, calm and collected.

Still on this issue of Nairobi Governor, word has it that ODM is secretly backing tycoon Stanley Githunguri and not the pompous Kidero or Kisia who presided over the fake ISO certification bequeathed to the city just before he left. Hon Githunguri happens to be the current Kiambaa MP and according to a certain controversial book, his Lilian Towers (Nairobi Safari Club) is favourite joint for ODM night meetings.

Kidero may have blown it on live TV, but let that be a lesson to other aspirants. If I was Debarl and my guest started asking me silly, even personal questions hoping to embarass, I would have asked him politely we swap seats. Ironically, there was a glass of water just in front of Kidero, he should have used it to cool down the nerves!

[Luol Deng]

Strange twist, considering that eng. Kidero was the brains behind the Nation media group diversifying into FM & TV.

[genius]

I watched Kidero on Jeff Koinange's Capital Talk and honestly wasn't impressed. I even consider current Nairobi Mayor George Aladwa a better prospect than Kidero. Even more interesting is that the Homa Bay folks had asked him to run for governer there and had all but gurranteed him the seat but he chose to ignore them deciding to run in Nairobi. He'll probably soon regret this decision.

[Luol Deng]

genius,

Dr. Kidero's management pedigree is not in dispute. His judgement as a politician is wanting. He has always been one to think outside the box and as such has enhanced the performance of the organisations that he has worked in. As I alluded earlier, he is the brains behind the Nation media group's diversification. At Mumias he had started pursuing other lines that if realised would have vastly improved Mumias sugar's profitability.

Kidero is also a successful real estate businessman to boot, he realised the potential of places like Gigiri & Runda more than 10 years before the current real estate bubble that we are experiencing in those areas and has made a killing in that sector.

When it comes to Kidero the politician, I think he doesn't know to articulate himself well enough to the populace. So, I think that he is one who can work well behind the scenes in the implementation.....Just don't put him in a public facing position.

[mbuta]

Is there a link to this interview?

[kijiko]

Mbuta
Try kenyamoja.com you will get all the videos there.

[man]

I will disagree with most of you on this one so far. That interviewer was clearly a gun for hire. He obviously doesnt have a clue about a very basic accounting principle called Provision for Bad Debts yet he wants to pick an argument on the same with an ex-CEO of a blue chip company, and a successful CEO at that.

In my opinion that interview was the most unprofessional that I have seen in a while, and i have, seen very many. He brings up issues which are still subject to a court process and wants to pick an argument on the same. As a journalist, hasn't he heard the word " contempt"?

As much as I do not support Kidero's candidacy I think he is owed an apology.

[morimax]

[mbuta]

Thanks guys....

[mastersugu]

This Kidero guy is simply arrogant and loses his cool on issues he should come clean on. Why did he come to the show in the first place when he lacks a manifesto to articulate how to even decongest the city center!!! oh my oh my. He is wanting for this position. No wonder he declined the offer to govern Homa-bay as he lives in another world. Zero.
my few cents here.

[b6k]

Jul 26, 2012 0:09:10 GMT 3 mastersugu said:

This Kidero guy is simply arrogant and loses his cool on issues he should come clean on. Why did he come to the show in the first place when he lacks a manifesto to articulate how to even decongest the city center!!! oh my oh my. He is wanting for this position. No wonder he declined the offer to govern Homa-bay as he lives in another world. Zero.
my few cents here.

MS Interesting interview. I think the reporter did a good job to get under Kidero's skin. This is the kind of questioning we need of aspirants & holders of public office to ensure everything they do is in the public interest. It's interesting to see how Kidero tries to hide behind a board decision yet as we have seen with the CMC saga you can have some pretty criminally minded boards in the KE corporate world.

My only advice to the reporter is he needs to stop playing around with that ear piece of his. He was doing a pretty good imitation of BBC's "Hardtalk" but by constantly reaching for his earpiece it's clear he was being led by a producer (who may have an axe to grind with Kidero as an ex Nation MD). Debari had even left the Busia Factory line of questioning & then meandered back to it after probably being egged on by the producer. That therefore validates Kidero's question as to who's interests the reporter is defending but it doesn't exonerate Kidero fully. We need a hard-hitting press corps to stick it to public figures, even aspiring ones, until they learn that they are accountable to the public.

[nowayhaha]

Had to bring this back , after yesterday faceoff with Waititu -kidero still hasnt learnt a thing or two in live tv interview /debate

[OtishOtish]

Jul 26, 2012 10:19:37 GMT 3 b6k said:

MS Interesting interview. I think the reporter did a good job to get under Kidero's skin. This is the kind of questioning we need of aspirants & holders of public office to ensure everything they do is in the public interest. It's interesting to see how Kidero tries to hide behind a board decision yet as we have seen with the CMC saga you can have some pretty criminally minded boards in the KE corporate world.

My only advice to the reporter is he needs to stop playing around with that ear piece of his. He was doing a pretty good imitation of BBC's "Hardtalk" but by constantly reaching for his earpiece it's clear he was being led by a producer (who may have an axe to grind with Kidero as an ex Nation MD). Debari had even left the Busia Factory line of questioning & then meandered back to it after probably being egged on by the producer. That therefore validates Kidero's question as to who's interests the reporter is defending but it doesn't exonerate Kidero fully. We need a hard-hitting press corps to stick it to public figures, even aspiring ones, until they learn that they are accountable to the public.

I see your point, a bit, but I'm not sure that it's such a big deal.

First, the reporter before the interview would have discussed with the producer the nature of the questions to be asked. So, I see any "prompting" during the interview as a "live" extension of that process; i.e. nothing fundamental wrong with it. In fact, I have watched many interviews elsewhere where I wished there would be a commercial break so that a producer or somebody could get the interviewer back on track or to sharpen his/her questioning. Ultimately, it is about the audience, in so far as that is where the money comes from (via advertisements etc.)

Second, interviewers, reporters, producers etc. are always "working for someone else. As one wag once put it, "freedom of the press belongs to those who own a press". Like many Jukwaaists, I read a variety of papers. In several cases, I have done so for years---because the "owners" of the papers have set standards that they insist on and values that coincide with my own. Two examples are the New York Times and The Washington Post. The latter has gone down a bit with the demise of Katherine Graham ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Graham ) whose memoirs are an interesting read on the positive influence that an "owner" can have.

I think that what really matters, at the end of the day, is how the interviewer went about his business and how the person being interviewed responded. Surely, those are matters on which we can exercise our judgment regardless of the person that the interviewer is "working for". If Kidero wishes to play politics in the big leagues, he has to be prepared for the fact that his detractors, enemies, etc. will come at it from all sides. Everyone and his dog will have "an axe to grind". So that should not be an excuse. In fact, he could earn a lot of "brownie points" from showing that he can stand the heat wherever it comes from. I agree with those who see this as a less-than-stellar performance by the man.

To Bwana Kidero, I dedicate an old song: "Be Cool: 50-50 Fire & Ice"



If there's one rule to this game
Everybody's gonna name
It's "be cool"
If you're worried or uncertain
If your feelings are hurtin'
You're a fool if you can't keep cool

Charm 'em
Don't alarm 'em
Keep things light
Keep your worries out of sight
And play it cool

...

Play it cool, play it cool boy
Fifty-fifty fire and ice

A footnote: For journalists set on such interviews, I regard Frost's subjecting Nixon to "death by a thousand cuts" as setting the must-see standard. There is even a movie about it. More on that at another time.

[emali]

Jan 21, 2013 20:21:38 GMT 3 nowayhaha said:

Had to bring this back , after yesterday faceoff with Waititu -kidero still hasnt learnt a thing or two in live tv interview /debate

Indeed....Kidero has the ability to make you vote for Waititu which is saying something because Waititu has literally no idea what a governor does...