This archive report was first published on 31 October 2019.
On October 31, 2019, Mediamax Network Limited, the parent company of K24 and Kameme, sent home 160 employees in a mass firing. The move has been described as the worst to hit a media organization in recent times.
The affected employees received termination letters, a month after the company gave notice of mass firings. A staff meeting was held at the media house's offices, where the HR department and acting CEO Ken Ngaruiya briefed employees on the expected outcome.
According to Ngaruiya, the company had tried to minimize the effects of the redundancy, following all due legal processes. He acknowledged that the past month had been difficult for everyone involved.
Some of the prominent journalists who have been sacked from K24 include:
- Fred Njiri – Managing Editor K24
- Tony Timase – Head of Business K24
- Torome Tirike – Head of Sports
- Franklin Wambugu – Managing Editor, Swahili
- Frankilin Macharia – Senior Reporter
- Anders Ihaji – Political Reporter
- Ali Mtenzi – Deputy Managing Editor
- Mwanaisha Chidzuga – Swahili Anchor
- Juma Bhalo – Swahili Anchor
At the MediaMax vernacular docket, Moses Kanyira, who had worked for 17 years, was also fired.