STAGE 01 — OUR STORY
Why we do this work, and why we do it this way.
Quentaris began with a simple observation: much of the difficulty in investigative work happens not in the field, but at the desk — in framing a question badly, in losing track of a date, or in publishing a claim the evidence doesn't quite support.
ORIGIN
Started on a coastal newsroom's kitchen table.
The first version of what became Quentaris was a set of habits shared informally among a handful of reporters along the coast — ways of checking a date, of writing down where a fact came from, of pausing before sending something to print. Over time, those habits turned into a small practice.
Today we work with individual journalists and small newsrooms across Kenya, offering the same discipline in a more structured form, always within the bounds of what is lawful to gather and to publish.
Between where we started and what we hold to, three things guide most of our decisions.
STAGE 02 — VALUES
What we hold to
01
Lawful only
We work only with material that was lawfully obtained, and we say so plainly when a request would take us outside that line.
02
Honest about limits
If a lead isn't worth pursuing, or a claim isn't yet supportable, we would rather tell you early than let the work drift.
03
Written down
Every session ends with something in writing — a note, a template, a list — so the work outlasts the conversation.
STAGE 03 — TEAM
The people you'll likely speak with
Wanjala Mutiso
Framing & Method
Achieng Barasa
Chronology & Records
Kiptoo Ndegwa
Editorial Review
If any of this sounds like what your work needs, we'd be glad to hear about it.
Get in touch