Hiiraan Online

“I want to thank the stations managers for their dedication in establishing a radio station that caters to the entire Somali community” said Star FM’s Kassim Mohamed during his acceptance speech for this year’s Radio General News Award. “I am so delighted that our hard work is being recognized by CNN and Multichoice. It’s just the beginning and Star FM is determined to tell the African story.” Mr. Mohammed’s radio interview with the wife of a Somali pirate entitled “I’m Married to a Pirate” won him the award.

Managing Director Mohamed Hassan Osman said that Star FM is always nurturing talents and is on the look-out for young and outstanding journalists. Speaking to Hiiraan Online he said “We are very happy with all our employees who come to work early and leave late as they understand journalism is all about sacrifice. We are the only FM radio station in Kenya that has ever won the CNN Multichoice award.” 

From left to right: Mohamud Abdullahi Sheikh, Chairman; Kassim Mohamed, Radio Personality; Mohamed Osman, Managing Director

Star FM radio has been on the air for just under five years and can be heard from Nairobi, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Gedo region, Tana River as well as the largest refugee camp in the world, Dadaab. Star FM is also in the process of furthering its reach so it can be heard from Mogadishu, Hargeisa, Bosaso, Moyale, and the Kakuma Refugee Camp.

Mustafa Haji Abdinur, winner of the free press category, has been based in Mogadishu since 2006 and witnessed some of the worst fighting the city has seen in its two decades firsthand. During his speech he highlighted the current grim situation in Mogadishu.  "Friends, I live in a country whose name has unfortunately become a synonym for lawlessness, where human life is not worth a lot and where press freedom simply does not exist," said Abdinur.

He won the award for his “Peace Journalism” initiative that he launched with the help of other Somali journalists. Somalia is one of the most dangerous countries to be a reporter, since October 2007, 13 journalists have been murdered in Somalia including 9 in 2009 alone. For this reason, Abdinur also won the Committee to Protect Journalists' (CPJ) International Press Freedom Awards in November 2009.

The Staff of Star FM

He shares this award with nine deceased reporters who died covering the savage conflict in Somalia: Abdulkhafar Abdulkadir Hassan, freelance; Mohamed Amin Adan Abdulle, Radio Shabelle; Hassan Zubeyr Haji Hassan, Al-Arabiya; Mohamud Mohamed Yusuf, Radio IQK; Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe, Radio Shabelle; Nur Muse Hussein, Radio IQK; Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame, Radio Shabelle; Said Tahlil Ahmed, HornAfrik; Hassan Mayow Hassan, Radio Shabelle.

The award ceremony that was attended by journalists, editors, and consultants from Africa as well as beyond was hosted by CNN Anchor Isha Sesay and emcee Ronnie Mich Egwang.

Meanwhile, President of the Republic of Uganda, General Yoweri Kaguta Museveni who presided over the event said that African media houses are still locked in the mindset of anti-colonial activists of the early 1950s, where the colonial state was regarded as ‘them’ and the people were ‘us’". He called on journalists to add 'patriotism' to their usual 'issues' of general news, culture and health reporting. He added that critics of the Ugandan draft media bill, -that proposes a licensing system for journalists- were making 'undue wild accusations'. The Ugandan government merely wants to administer and manage press freedom, he said, not restrict it.  Nevertheless, speaking off the cuff, he also said that journalists should not 'cross the line' and that they should leave 'politics to the politicians'.