KENYA: Bishops Conference Launches Ukweli TV Kenya
Rt. Rev Joseph Obanyi the Bishop of Kakamega Diocese and The Chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) – Commission for Social Communications.
By Rose Achiego and Janet Hinga
The Chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) – Commission for Social Communications and the Bishop of Kakamega Diocese Rt. Rev Joseph Obanyi has on 1st April 2020 launched Ukweli Catholic Television at Radio Waumini premises in Kasarani, Nairobi.
Speaking during the celebration of the Holy Mass streamed live by Ukweli TV itself on its YouTube channel and on Facebook page, Bishop Obanyi said in the face of the world pandemic, Ukweli TV is joining the rest of the media world in reinforcing positive messages and images in a bid to curbing of the Coronavirus pandemic and spreading the Gospel.
“Our intention is to proclaim the Good News to the ends of the earth as directed by Jesus Christ in Mathew 28;19,” he said.
Ukweli TV develops from Ukweli Video Productions which was founded on 18 May 1981 by a Maryknoll Missionary, late Fr. Richard J. Quinn, as one of the first professional Christian video production centres in Africa with the aim of evangelizing through electronic visual images.
After twenty-six years of operation, and upon retirement of FR Quinn in 2008, the KCCB took over the project. Immediately, the Conference mandated the new director Sr Lucy Lando to develop it into a television station, a step that has so far received overwhelming support from both the Catholic media practitioners in the country and the laity in general.
Meanwhile, the Catholic media fraternity is brainstorming via their WhatsApp group KCCB Ukweli TV, the possible slogan and symbols that will identify the station.
Ukweli Video Productions (UVP) has filmed over 290 video documentaries, plays and docu-dramas of which 60 have strong pastoral messages. These were shot in several African countries including Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi and Zimbabwe. Some of its programs have been aired on various media platforms including Kenya’s national broadcaster KBC, Malawi’s Luntha Catholic Television and other international televisions.
