Yvonne Okwara is a Kenyan journalist, broadcaster and media leader known for political interviews, business reporting and explaining public affairs. She signed off from Citizen TV on 27 October 2026, ending a chapter that began in 2018. Her career has moved through children’s television, radio production, news presentation and editorial management.
The departure draws attention to a professional life built on more than delivering bulletins. Okwara has moderated presidential debates, studied how newsrooms can improve research and served in advisory and institutional roles. Her record connects the daily demands of broadcasting with a wider question: how can journalism help people understand decisions made in their name?
Who is Yvonne Okwara?
Yvonne Okwara is a Kenyan broadcaster and media leader known for Citizen TV’s News Gang and The Explainer, political interviews and business journalism. A science graduate with postgraduate training in media leadership, she left Citizen TV in October 2026 after previously working in radio and at KTN.
Leaving Citizen TV after eight years
K24’s departure report records Okwara’s farewell after approximately eight and a half years at Royal Media Services. She thanked colleagues, mentors and viewers who had accompanied her through her broadcasting career.
The immediate change is her departure from Citizen TV. Her farewell opened a new professional chapter, while leaving its precise shape unstated. Describing that transition requires care: leaving one broadcaster does not, by itself, establish permanent retirement from journalism.
Y News’ account of the final broadcast reports that she did not announce her next role during the sign-off. It also identifies the employer’s published farewell clip. Her message to audiences returned to asking questions and expecting accountability from people in power.
Nairobi upbringing and an education in science
Okwara was born in Nairobi on 16 March 1983, according to Kenyans.co.ke’s biographical profile. That makes her 43 years old on 28 October 2026.
CIVIL SOCIETY
Yvonne Okwara Biography: Education, Career and Citizen TV Exit
Oct 28, 2026
Oct 28, 2026
10 min read
Published
Updated:
Yvonne Okwara is a Kenyan journalist, broadcaster and media leader known for political interviews, business reporting and explaining public affairs. She signed off from Citizen TV on 27 October 2026, ending a chapter that began in 2018. Her career has moved through children’s television, radio production, news presentation and editorial management.
The departure draws attention to a professional life built on more than delivering bulletins. Okwara has moderated presidential debates, studied how newsrooms can improve research and served in advisory and institutional roles. Her record connects the daily demands of broadcasting with a wider question: how can journalism help people understand decisions made in their name?
Who is Yvonne Okwara?
Yvonne Okwara is a Kenyan broadcaster and media leader known for Citizen TV’s News Gang and The Explainer, political interviews and business journalism. A science graduate with postgraduate training in media leadership, she left Citizen TV in October 2026 after previously working in radio and at KTN.
Leaving Citizen TV after eight years
K24’s departure report records Okwara’s farewell after approximately eight and a half years at Royal Media Services. She thanked colleagues, mentors and viewers who had accompanied her through her broadcasting career.
The immediate change is her departure from Citizen TV. Her farewell opened a new professional chapter, while leaving its precise shape unstated. Describing that transition requires care: leaving one broadcaster does not, by itself, establish permanent retirement from journalism.
Y News’ account of the final broadcast reports that she did not announce her next role during the sign-off. It also identifies the employer’s published farewell clip. Her message to audiences returned to asking questions and expecting accountability from people in power.
Nairobi upbringing and an education in science
Okwara was born in Nairobi on 16 March 1983, according to Kenyans.co.ke’s biographical profile. That makes her 43 years old on 28 October 2026.
In a 2018 interview with Yvonne Aoll, she discussed attending All Saints Cathedral Primary School, Kianda High School and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. She studied microbiology rather than following a conventional journalism degree route.
Her explanation of that training is revealing. She connected science with a fact-based, research-based approach to stories. The link was methodological: asking what supports a claim and examining it before presenting a conclusion. Those habits later became relevant to her work in interviews and explanatory broadcasting.
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The same interview traces her broadcasting sequence from a children’s programme at KBC to Hot 96, then QFM and QTV within Nation Media Group, and subsequently KTN. It supplies her own account of a career that developed across different kinds of newsroom work.
From production work to the anchor’s desk
Business Today’s career retrospective identifies the KBC programme as Children’s Variety. It places her move into QFM content production in 2008 and her move to KTN in 2012.
Radio production gave her responsibilities away from the most visible position in a studio. Preparing programmes and organising material are different tasks from presenting a finished bulletin, but both depend on understanding what an audience needs to know. Her later career brought those activities together.
At KTN, she became a news anchor and took on leadership responsibilities. Business Today records her involvement in news strategy during the development of KTN News in 2015. Her experience therefore included the organisation of coverage as well as its delivery on screen.
She joined Citizen TV in 2018. The move returned her to Royal Media Services after her earlier radio work and placed her in the broadcaster where many viewers came to know her through sustained political and economic coverage.
The Explainer, News Gang and business coverage
Nairobi Leo’s departure account dates her Citizen TV arrival to May 2018, her additional Business Editor responsibility to December 2021 and the introduction of The Explainer as a standalone Tuesday programme to May 2023.
These responsibilities demanded different forms of communication. A business editor helps determine which economic developments receive attention. An interviewer tests a guest’s account. An explanatory presenter connects an event with its background and consequences. News Gang added a panel format in which current affairs could be examined through discussion.
Okwara’s own professional biography also describes research and planning responsibilities and lists moderation work with international public and business leaders. That wider record helps explain why her career cannot be reduced to a single television slot.
Postgraduate study and a case for newsroom research
Aga Khan University’s official 2024 graduation list includes Yvonne Buliba Okwara among graduates of the Executive Masters in Media Leadership and Innovation programme.
Her dissertation, held in the university’s repository, examines the case for a dedicated media research department. The university dates the work to 2024 and identifies Nation Media Group and Royal Media Services as the organisations studied.
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The abstract argues that audiences need confirmation, understanding and analysis beyond the first report of an event. It recommends a dedicated research function and proposes a staffing framework. This gives a documented academic dimension to her interest in explanatory journalism.
The subject is practical. Once an audience knows that something happened, further reporting must explain how it developed, which decisions shaped it and what consequences follow. Okwara’s study treats that continuing work as an organisational responsibility requiring people and resources.
Debates, advisory roles and work with young people
The International Center for Research on Women’s institutional profile identifies Okwara as an ICRW Africa board member. It records her moderation of Kenya’s presidential debates in 2017 and 2022, Bloomberg Africa Leadership Initiative Media fellowship and advisory work associated with Africa Uncensored and ENACTUS.
Her public speaking also extends to education. Citizen Digital reported her address to scholarship students at Alliance Girls High School in August 2026. She encouraged them to listen, ask questions, develop their values and take responsibility for their choices.
That address connects a broadcaster’s communication skills with mentorship. It also shows a public role beyond interviewing prominent guests: helping younger audiences consider how they use their own voices.
Accountability in her own commentary
Okwara’s published work provides concrete examples of her editorial interests. In Death by Announcements, published on 9 October 2026, she examined how repeated government project announcements can make it harder to track costs, deadlines and delivery.
In New York Walk of Fame, published on 24 September, she questioned the tendency to treat photographs of meetings as evidence of results. These are her arguments, rather than independent findings about every institution she discusses.
Together, the pieces show a recurring focus on the distance between public communication and demonstrable outcomes. That theme links her commentary with her academic interest in journalism that continues after the first announcement.
Marriage history and personal boundaries
Okwara publicly discussed her marriage in the 2018 Standard interview. K24’s October 2026 account of her personal background reports that she married veterinary surgeon Andrew Matole in December 2014.
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That documented history should be distinguished from current status. In her earlier interview, Okwara rejected pressure to meet other people’s expectations about marriage and parenthood. Those comments describe her views at the time; they do not establish her present family circumstances.
Personal & Family Status | Details |
Marital status | Current status not publicly confirmed as of October 2026; marriage in 2014 is documented |
Spouse or partner | Andrew Matole is the publicly documented spouse from her 2014 marriage; current partnership status is not publicly confirmed as of October 2026 |
Children | Not publicly confirmed as of October 2026 |
Career timeline
Year | Event | Significance |
2008 | Joined QFM in content production | Built experience behind the microphone and in programme preparation |
2012 | Moved to KTN | Expanded her television news career |
2015 | Worked in news strategy around KTN News | Added editorial leadership to presentation |
2017 | Moderated a Kenyan presidential debate | Took on a national political broadcasting responsibility |
2018 | Joined Citizen TV | Began the television chapter that ended in October 2026 |
2021 | Added Business Editor responsibilities | Combined news presentation with business-desk leadership |
2022 | Moderated a presidential debate | Returned to a major electoral broadcasting role |
2024 | Listed among AKU media leadership graduates | Completed postgraduate study connecting research and newsroom management |
2026 | Left Citizen TV on 27 October | Closed an eight-year chapter at the broadcaster |
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Yvonne Okwara?
She is 43 as of 28 October 2026, based on the reported birth date of 16 March 1983.
What did Yvonne Okwara study?
She studied microbiology at JKUAT and completed an Executive Masters in Media Leadership and Innovation at Aga Khan University.
When did she join Citizen TV?
She joined in May 2018 after working at KTN.
When did she leave Citizen TV?
Her farewell broadcast took place on 27 October 2026.
Which programmes is she known for?
Her work includes News Gang, The Explainer, prime-time news and business coverage.
What was her master’s research about?
It examined the role of research in news production and proposed a dedicated newsroom research department.
Who is Andrew Matole?
He is the veterinary surgeon whom Okwara married in 2014. That marriage history does not establish their current relationship status.
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