Working on with cameras and behind the production of some of the best investigative features in the country is one Kevin Gitau.
Gitau is a special projects producer at Nation Media Group, a position he has held for close to a year since leaving the University of East London, where he pursued a master's degree in film making.
Gitau in an interview with Kenyans.co.ke on Thursday, January 9, admitted that he is the face behind the production of NTV's investigative pieces, including Cot to Court, Sins of Saviours, Toxic Flow and Preying Missionaries.
Toxic Flow, a feature released on August 14, 2019, highlighted the release of raw and untreated sewage from companies, industries and lavish estates in Nairobi, polluting the Nairobi River.
Two weeks after the explosive feature, the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), cracked the whip and closed down four companies that it found responsible for polluting the river.
Sins of Saviours was a feature that landed NTV in trouble, with the Child Welfare Society of Kenya (CWSK) seeking injunctions that blocked the airing of the shocking feature on the intended date.
The shocking feature documented the suffering of vulnerable, homeless children in the hands of their protectors who used them as cash cows for their own benefit.
On September 12, barely two months after the feature, the government sprang into action and introduced a spate of new policies to regulate the adoption process and streamline operations of the Child Welfare Society of Kenya (CWSK).
Gitau told Kenyans.co.ke that of all the features he has produced, he couldn't point out one that stood above the rest, due to the different impact that it had on Kenyans.
Preying Missionaries, however, had one of the biggest impacts on his life.
"Preying Missionaries led to the arrest of the two culprits in the US and the case is currently in progress. Such a kind of impact is personal. I feel like even if it is just two people who were arrested, I feel good because it is something that has impacted the lives of many children," Gitau opened up
Gitau is also the producer of Dr. Kingori's Wicked Edition, alongside the special features, a feat which he manages to pull through proper organisation and teamwork.
"It's all about understanding who does what best and what they can do as a team. It is a very difficult thing to work on jokes every week, but we have able individuals who work on it, especially King'ori and his team who do 90 per cent of the work," he intimated.
Gitau also worked with Larry Madowo on The Trend, but both of them left after Madowo's last show in June 2017.
