Thursday, December 20, 2012 – On Tuesday evening, the inaugural Malaika Tribute Awards were held at Safari park Hotel. The awards were aimed at celebrating people with disabilities and recognizing the work of people who have contributed to making the lives of disabled people better.
MTV and Groove award winner Daddy Owen a.k.a. Papa Fololo is the brain behind the awards. He is also the founder of Malaika Trust which has been working together with the society in helping the needy.
Below is the full list of winners who were awarded with cash prices. Citizen TV’s Catherine Kasavuli was among the guests who honored the winners.
Innovator of the Year -Barrack Ounga
Young Achiever: Arts & Music Award -Martha Ouko
Lifetime Achievement Award -Mary Atieno
Special Recognition Award -Ruth Mueni
Young Achiever: Sports -Shadrack Wambugu
Good Samaritan Award -Bethany Kids Kijabe Hospital
Notable Educator of the Year Award -Dr.Michael Ndurumo
Source:The Kenyan DAILY POST
About Catherine Kasavuli
Catherine Kasavuli (17 June 1962[citation needed] – 29 December 2022) was a Kenyan news presenter. Kasavuli was the first female news anchor in the country and had previously worked in other leading television stations including The Kenyan Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), Citizen Television, and Kenya Television Network (KTN).
Kasavuli started her career as a radio continuity announcer in 1980 at the Voice of Kenya, which was renamed to KBC in later years. Her uncle, who had listened to her reading the Bible and praying for dinner, advised her to apply for the job. She was barely 18 years at the time.[1] Kasavuli would later transition to television at the company in 1985. Kasavuli had no prior professional training and two years into her job, she went to the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication. In March 1990, Catherine became part of the founding team of KTN as the first privately owned television station in the country. She became the station’s first anchor to go on live broadcast, a shift from the previous pre-recorded format.[2] Other than being a TV presenter, Kasavuli would voice commercials to supplement her earnings.[3]
After being at KTN for 17 years, Kasavuli left the station in 2007 to join Citizen TV, owned by Royal Media Services. She was part of the mass exodus that saw a number of high-profile news anchors such as Swaleh Mdoe and Louis Otieno leave the Standard Group owned TV Station for Citizen TV.[4][5] She later held the position of corporate affairs manager at Royal Media Services, the parent company of Citizen TV.[2] In 2015, Kasavuli retired from the limelight to work behind the screens.
However, towards the end of July 2021, eight years after leaving television, Kasavuli made a grand comeback and graced the Kenyan TV screens after signing a deal with the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) where she anchored weekend news.[1] In an interview after her comeback, she stated, “I wanted to come to KBC to train anchors to hone their skills but never expected an offer of this magnitude.” Despite her famous public personality and unlike her successors in the Kenyan media space, the soft spoken and ever-smiling anchor preferred to keep her personal life private.
Winners of Malaika Tribute Awards, Catherine Kasavuli Among Guests
