New Name for a Trusted Voice
This morning thousands of radio listeners woke up in eastern Kenya’s Tana River County to a new sound, as the presenter cheerfully announced, “Habari Tana River, you’re listening to Vox Radio, broadcasting across the county on 95.0 Megaherz.”
Welcome to Vox Radio. Yes it’s a new name, but it’s the same trusted friend that has been supporting communities in the Tana Delta since 2017, as “Amani FM“. But why the change, and why now, as the country approaches hotly contested elections? The new name coincides with a new, regional licence and frequency for the station, which gives them the authority to extend their signal across the county to reach many more communities.
Vox Radio’s Operations Director, Fatma Mzee explains, “The government required us to leave our old name “Amani” behind and although it wasn’t our choice, in a way it marks a coming of age and a new beginning. “Amani” means peace and one of our main roles has been to advocate for peaceful co-existence among the communities. “Vox“, means voice and it goes with the slogan “Sauti Yangu” which mean “my voice“. We truly have become the voice of and for the peoples of Tana River,” she explained.
Members of the Vox Radio team visit a community in Tana River to listen and learn – community engagement is a crucial part of their work
John Otunga, chairman of the Amani Centre which hosts the station believes this is a time of great opportunity to reach more communities across Tana River County as the station builds on the success of the past four years of bringing peace to the region. “Our mission was successfully accomplished as over the years we’ve seen a significant drop in conflict, tension and mistrust among community members and the station’s name has resonated well with what communities consider to be very important – peace. We will still be the same trusted voice, providing great entertainment and creative content, but now we’ll be reaching many more communities to inspire ever greater change for good and enabling all community voices to be heard.”
In the coming months John said the Amani Centre and Vox Radio will be relocating to its own land in nearby Minjila, to create what they are calling a Community ICT hub (Information Communication Technology). In partnership with FEBC Australia, Amplifying Voices and local partners seeking to transform one of Kenya’s most disadvantaged counties, the ICT hub will become a space that brings together communities and technology to develop initiatives that tackle the regions greatest threats and challenges to health and wellbeing.
“Vox Radio has an important role to play in the run up to and week’s following the elections on 9th August,” says John, “then from October we will begin in earnest to implement the new ICT hub initiative. Watch this space!”