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Hilary Boniface Ng’weno is a retired Kenyan journalist. The Harvard-educated nuclear scientist, a Luhya from Samia, Busia district, was born in Nairobi. After graduating from Harvard with a degree in physics, Ng’weno worked as a reporter for the Daily Nation for nine months before his appointment as the newspaper’s first Kenyan editor-in-chief. He resigned in 1965 and established a successful career as a journalist for more than forty years. In 1973, together with journalist Terry Hirst, he founded Joe, a political satire comic magazine that circulated in many parts of Africa until the late seventies when its publication ceased.
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Career in journalism
In 1975, Ng'weno founded The Weekly Review, a journal of political news, commentary and analysis followed in 1977 by The Nairobi Times, a Sunday newspaper that later became a daily. At the beginning, The Weekly Review and The Nairobi Times being locally owned enterprises, fared well in a field dominated by the (then) foreign owned Daily Nation and The Standard but like other local papers, they faced stiff competition from the established papers for little or lack of advertising from the mostly foreign companies in Kenya. Because the advertising community was still controlled by foreigners, it tended to favour the foreign owned publications. Advertisers were also not too keen to deal with publications that were likely to stir the wrath of the government with inflammatory political reports.
Ng’weno’s publications nevertheless lasted an impressive length of time, as he was the kind of journalist that favoured self-censorship. His publications continued to gain popularity, and The Weekly Review went on to dominate the weekly news scene for more than 20 years, becoming one of Africa’s best news magazines. Due to diminishing revenue from advertising sales, Ng'weno however, sold The Nairobi Times in 1983 to KANU, Kenya’s then ruling party. The paper was renamed The Kenya Times, but its popularity suffered, as it was seen to be the mouthpiece of an oppressive government in a political era likened to dictatorship. The Kenya Times wound up in July, 2010.
Ng’weno diversified his media empire, which included other periodicals such as The Financial Review, The Industrial Review and Rainbow, a monthly children’s magazine. His publishing company, Stellascope was acquired by KANU when the latter purchased The Nairobi Times. The Weekly Review folded on May 17, 1999 after 24 years of publication and Ng'weno moved on to television broadcasting launching a television station, STV Kenya.
Personal life
Hilary Ng’weno has been married to Fleur Ng’weno (née Grandjouan), a native of France for nearly fifty years. Mrs. Ng’weno, a naturalist, writer and former editor, holds a BSc degree in conservation. She has been actively involved in environmental issues in Kenya for more than forty years, serving as Honorary Secretary to NatureKenya, (formerly the East Africa Natural History Society). Their two daughters Amolo Ng’weno and Bettina Ngweno are also distinguished achievers in education and media. The Harvard and Princeton educated Amolo served as deputy director of financial services for the poor on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In 1994, Amolo together with two other Kenyans, Ayisi Makatiani and Karanja Gakio, founded Africaonline one of the first internet service providers in Africa. The three Kenyans met while still students in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Bettina Ng’weno is an associate professor of African American and African studies at the University of California, Davis.