This archive report was first published on 6 September 2019.
Published on September 6, 2019, a photojournalist has been fired by The Standard Group after receiving Ksh 1,500 from a charitable organisation to cover its activities.
Willis Awandu, a former correspondent, was no longer authorised to transact business on behalf of the media house, according to a notice published in The Standard newspaper.
Awandu had received the money from Eunice Njoki, who works for a non-profit organisation that educates children from poor backgrounds, to facilitate coverage of a pictorial segment.
However, Njoki claimed that Awandu did not meet his part of the bargain and instead blocked her calls, prompting her to write to her superiors.
Awandu, who now runs Digital Concepts, a photography firm in Nairobi, denied the allegations, stating that he had left The Standard before Njoki contacted him to assist in publicising an initiative to provide books to targeted school kids.
He claimed that he had told Njoki he was no longer at The Standard but would try to help out because he still knew people there.
Awandu alleged that the whole affair was a witch hunt, as all the colleagues he worked with on an investigative story were still at work, including the driver, yet he was accused of taking a company car without authorisation.
He also claimed that he refunded Njoki the Ksh 1,500 and even sent her an additional Ksh 1,500 through a friend, so she got back double the amount she had sent for lunch.
The issue has highlighted the cancer of bribery that permeates the media sector, partly due to poor remuneration in the lower cadres, especially among correspondents.
Journalist Dickson Odhiambo from Kisumu said, 'Poor remuneration results to this... Issues of remuneration and welfare of scribes, more so correspondents, should be adequately addressed.'
