When I caught wind of this story, I knew I had to go about it carefully because of it’s sensitive nature. What pray tell am I rumbling about? Well, a week or so ago, a staff member at K24 bravely reached out to me about what she alleges is the rot at K24. She had a couple of powerful allegation to drop.
As soon as I received all the information, I reached out to K24’s management and the man I spoke to is one Peter Opondo. I spoke to him regarding the matter. Sadly, I couldn’t get any statement from the man as my call was either terminated or the call was dropped. But I did manage to get a quote from the man on the matter.
When I called and informed him of who I was (God’s Chosen Blogger) and of my reason for calling, this is what he had to say:
“What is the call pertaining to? So who was mentioned? Who gave you this information?“
<Peter Opondo>
I never reveal my sources. Anyway, this is what I was told:
K24 has recently poached Ian Fernandes and Shirleen Samat to come ‘clean’ the mess at Mediamax.The big question is who created the mess? I don’t want to dwell on that at the moment but shed some light on the kind of talent K24 poached and dumped-thus killing their careers.I want also to shed light on why some of the best employees were fired/under what circumstances.
Tichi Nyasani
She was the darling of viewers and could take Lililian Muli – citizen tv head-on but she was ‘fired’ idefinately for not releasing ‘her’ goods to a senior manager. Would you compare her to Belinda Obura?
Anne Ngugi
Another great talent in Swahili features.However, she collided with ‘influential’ Belinda on several occasions and thus had to part ways with the station.
Eustas Kathurima
One of the best cameramen but the station could not take him to re-hab for his drinking problems.
John Mwendwa
One of the best minds in the newsroom but was a threat to Peter Opondo who had to create space for himself to enable Ian to be hired.
David Mbatia
The best Producer/Director who single handedly brought K24 to life. He could not see eye-to-eye with Peter Opondo who felt threatened by his wit and charisma. David had sealed ‘holes’ where gullible producers and administration was eating from.He had once notified management over unpaid commercials shows airing on the station.
Franklin
The best sales manager but was fought by his own juniours coz of his stand.
In a nutshell, K24 is run ‘mafia’ style where you don’t two the line..they gang up and you are fired by a toothless HR Manager. This is the only media house where business of supplies is done by seniour staff e.g. Commercial Agencies transact business with the station but are run by Victoria, Chebet and Charity (who are employees); Programmes are supplied by staff producers/managers e.g. Young Rich-K24 Programmes Manager, Couples Show – K24 Peter Opondo who is the ‘ghost’ executive producers.
K24 is a business hub for employees from IT to Office supplies.
I can give you more insight into the happenings now as the station prepares to fire more people end of July.
So as you can see, there seems to be a crisis of sorts at the media house owned by the president of Kenya. I reiterate, when I spoke to Peter Opondo, this is what he had to say during our short phonecall:
“What is the call pertaining to? So who was mentioned? Who gave you this information?“
My efforts to reach Tishi Nyasani have thus far been futile but I will keep you posted as more developments arise. And once again, Tichi Nyasani allegedly turned down the manager and is “suffering” for it.
