Musyoki Muli is the new chairman of Kenya Publishers Association (KPA). He replaces Kiarie Kamau, the CEO of East African Educational Publishers, who served in that role for the past four years.
Maisha Yetu sat down with Muli for an interview. Below is the story.
Musyoki Muli’s desire to become a university lecturer saw him pursue a Masters course in Literature and Theatre and Arts at Kenyatta University, where he had done his undergraduate studies, in Education.
The Masters degree brought him a step closer to his dream as he soon became a tutorial fellow at the same university.
While his tutorial fellow position came as a blessing to his career prospects, it brought with it some trouble. During this time he was teaching English and Literature at Machakos High School.
“The problem emanated from the fact that after my lessons at Machakos High, I would head straight to KU,” recalls Muli. “This did not go down well with the principal, who felt that I did not give my all to the school.”
Muli did not understand why the principal was bothered. “I gave my all in class and my students were performing quite well in their exams,” he recalls.
One day the Principal summoned him to his office and made a fuss about Muli not being committed to the welfare of the school; he wondered how he could not even participate in co-curicular activities in the school.
You see, at the time, Muli did not take kindly to anything that stood in his way of becoming a university lecturer. After finishing his Bachelor’s degree, his first posting was at Alliance High School, where he taught for one and a half years before getting a scholarship to do his Masters.
His employer granted him study leave to do his Masters. He was made a tutorial fellow while still on his study leave. When it came to an end, the Teacher Service Commission (TSC) reassigned him to Machakos High. The daily commute from Machakos to KU could not deter him.
The principal referred Muli to TSC, where a ‘surprise’ awaited him: He was being promoted him to become deputy head teacher in far away Kamagambo High School. The message was clear, ‘you cannot earn two salaries’. Muli, perhaps full of youthful bravado, rejected the offer.
Career shift
They reached a compromise that saw him posted to Starehe Boys Center, where the founder, the late Geoffrey Griffin, held the power to sack him. Somewhat, he thrived under Griffin. This was in 1994 and The Government Inspector, a play by Nikolai Gogol, had been introduced as literary text, by the then Kenya Institute of Education, now Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).
Muli took charge of the school’s drama club, directed the play and took it on tour around the country performing it to students. “Within two terms, I was made Head of Department, Languages,” says Muli with a smile.
Despite the job satisfaction at Starehe, In March of the following year, Muli was already plotting his next move. Unknown to him, his true calling was beckoning.
Simon Sossion, an old colleague from Kenyatta University, who was working as an editor at Longhorn Publishers, alerted him to an editor’s position at his workplace. Starting salary was a princely Ksh21,000. His teaching job paid him Ksh5,000 at the time.
This job was right up his alley and the pay was four times better.
Muli did not think twice about going for the interview. The interview panel, was impressed with his presentation; he beat the competition and got the job.
At Longhorn, Muli rose through the ranks becoming humanities editor, general publications manager, publishing manager and eventually managing director in 2012, taking over from Janet Njoroge, who was retiring.
At Longhorn, Muli was central in acquiring Sasa Sema, a general publications outfit, from Lila Luce, an American investor.
Prior to this, he had been seconded to head Longhorn Tanzania, for two years, between 2004 and 2006.
After leaving Longhorn, Muli established his own publishing firm, Spear Sharp Publishers, in 2015.
While running his own firm, his church Citam, which owns the Pan African Christian University, requested him to head Evangel Publishing, which they also own. Muli managed Evangel Publishing until a few months ago, to focus on Spear Sharp.
Spear Sharp has a number of course books being studied in schools under the Competency Based Education (CBE) curriculum. They include Agriculture for Grade 4 to 11, Environmental Studies, from Grade 1 to 3 and Social Studies, from Grade 4 to 9. This is on top of children’s dictionaries and readers.
Industry leadership
When he became the MD of Longhorn, Muli, was elected into the board of KPA in 2013. He is probably the longest serving member of the board, having served under Lawrence Njagi for eight years, David Waweru for two years and Kiarie Kamau for four years.
It is understood that his longevity at the council, where he headed the training docket, that worked in his favour when publishers met to elect new office holders on April 28, during their Annual Genery Meeting. He has taken over from Kiarie Kamau, the CEO of East African Educational Publishers, who just finished his mandatory two terms of two years each.
Muli takes over at the helm of KPA at a time when publishers are in the last quarter of preparing and producing CBE educational materials.
His immediate task as chair includes continuing negotiations with KICD with a view to reducing the cost of producing educational materials. “Publishers have been complaining that the high submission and correction fees levied by KICD increase the cost of producing books and therefore reducing their margins,” explains Muli.
As far as non-textbook materials are concerned, Muli says that the association will coordinate with organisers of international book fairs to ensure that Kenyan produced books are included in rights trading forums. “That way our books benefit from an expanded audience, which translates to more income for our writers,” adds Muli.
On the issue of awards, Muli proposes the setting up of a permanent fund that ensures that prize money for award-winners is available on a sustainable basis, which will in turn raise the standards of submissions since authors will be well motivated.
Muli’s first major undertaking as chair of KPA will be presiding over the Meru Regional Book Fair, which takes place at the Moi Kinoru Stadium from May 27 May 31. The holding of book fairs form a key plank of Muli’s strategy of entrenching a reading culture among Kenyans.