Veteran journalist James Kangwana, who served as the Head of Broadcasting at VoK (now KBC), was the first in media to receive a statement from State House about the death of Kenya's first President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
The message was supposed to be announced immediately but Kangwana was hesitant because he didn't want to be the one bearing the burden.
He refused to have the announcement made unless Kenyatta's secretary Geoffrey Kareithi was the one to take personal responsibility.
Kareithi called him on his special number and confirmed the details of the statement they had received.
Even after it was confirmed, the duty of making the announcement was handed to Norbert Vincent Okare who worked at the station part-time.
Okare was a top-notch journalist who read English news with ease and comfort due to his mastery of the Queen's language.
He had a strong British accent, booming voice and belonged to the high-class members of the society mingling with the who is who of his era.
Kangwana, on his part, went on to become a Director at the Ministry of Culture and Social Services between 1980 and 1982
When he left the ministry, he landed a job as a Director of Communications of the All Africa Conference of Churches until 1986.
Kangwana died on Tuesday, May 18, 2010, at the Lang'ata Hospital in Nairobi aged 75.
