This archive report was first published on 22 June 2020.
On Sunday night, MediaMax Networks Ltd, a media house owned by the family of President Uhuru Kenyatta, fired over 100 employees via SMS. The employees were informed of their redundancy through text messages sent by various human resource managers.
According to reports, one of the text messages was sent by Maureen Wandera, a human resources manager, to an employee stating: “I am contacting you with regards to the redundancy notice issued on 21st of May 2020. The notice period has expired. Unfortunately your position has been affected by way of redundancy. I would like to invite you to Emory Hotel in Kileleshwa tomorrow, Monday 22nd at 8:55am to discuss what this means to your employment. When you get to the hotel kindly ask for me. We thank you for your indulgence and cooperation in this matter.”
The majority of the affected journalists were based at K24 and People Daily. Among the employees who have been fired are Kiswahili news anchor Nancy Onyancha, Job Mwaura, Ken Wariahe, Isabella Kituri, Caroline Wambui, Shukri Wachu, Apollo Kamau, Mercy Milanoi, Joy Kiruki, Gloria Milimu, Kimani Githuku, Dennis Matara, Tony Kwalanda, Fred Indimuli, People Daily Managing Editor Ken Bosire, and People Daily Revise Editor Patrick Wachira.
The firing comes just days after the employees of the media house wrote a letter to President Kenyatta pleading for their jobs. In the letter, they stated: “Since the beginning of the crisis, we have seen you personally institute measures to cushion Kenyans against the economic shocks that came with it. However, at Mediamax, the esteemed organization that’s associated with your family has shown nothing but utter disdain for its biggest driving force – its staff. Unlike other companies that held dialogue with their employees through the painful but unavoidable measures, the Acting Chief Executive Officer, Ken Ngaruiya, was unilateralist in his approach,”
They also alleged that the acting CEO subjected innocent employees to abuse and cruelty to satisfy his weird sadistic impulses, and called for an audit of the company's books to uncover the plunder of MNL.
