This archive report was first published on 7 December 2019.
On August 8, 2019, Wendy Waeni and her mother appeared on Jeff Koinange Live, a popular night show on Citizen TV. The interview, however, had far-reaching consequences for the young gymnast.
According to Joe Mwangi, Wendy's ex-manager, the interview led to her losing Sh100 million in prize money. Mwangi claims that Wendy was on her way to winning the World Child of the Year award, a prestigious honor similar to the Global Teacher Prize won by Peter Tabichi earlier in the year.
Joe Mwangi, who had been working with Wendy for 16 months prior to the interview, says that he had been informed that she had won the award in mid-July. However, due to the rules of the competition, Wendy was barred from appearing on any publication or broadcast between August 1, 2019, and December 7, 2019.
Despite this, Mwangi claims that he was not informed about the interview until the day it was scheduled to air. He says that he had declined a request to have Wendy on the show, citing the rules of the competition. However, he claims that his warnings to Jeff Koinange were ignored, and the interview went ahead as planned.
Joe Mwangi has accused Jeff Koinange and Royal Media Services of negligence and poor journalism standards. He claims that the interview was a case of self-sabotage and that Koinange had engaged in a 'suicidal mission' by putting Wendy on TV.
