New Details On Idah Waringa’s Exit From NTV [EXCLUSIVE]

She spent three years at the station where she rose to become one of the country’s biggest female anchors in...

New Details On Idah Waringa’s Exit From NTV [EXCLUSIVE]
Side by side image of former NTV news anchor Idah Waringa. /FILE

Sports anchor Idah Waringa has revealed fresh details regarding her departure from Nation Media Group (NMG)’s TV station NTV.

Speaking exclusively to Viral Tea, the sultry-voiced journalist revealed that she had departed the Kimathi Street-based media house three months ago.

She spent three years at the station where she rose to become one of the country’s biggest female anchors in the sports division.

Idah Waringa with footballing legend Ronaldinho. /FILE

“Left NTV 3 months ago actually,” she told Viral Tea on Friday, July 1.

By the time of publication, it was still not established her next move or why she left the station, owing to multiple sources ranging from insiders to highly-placed sources who spoke to Viral Tea confirming her departure.

“Yes she did, she resigned. She didn’t tell me anything so I don't know her reasons for leaving,” stated one source.

The multimedia sports journalist, events moderator and social media marketer joined NMG in October 2018 from Radio Africa Group where she worked as a sports reporter and anchor. She is an alumnus of the United States International University- Africa (USIU) and holds a Masters degree in Digital Communication and Media from Aga Khan University. 

Globally, she contributes to the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) where she was one of seven reporters selected from Africa – and the only one chosen from Kenya – by AIPS to cover the All Africa Games (African Games) through the Young Reporters Program. She also contributes to the Planet Sport Football Africa show under Passion For Sport Productions.

She has also appeared several times on the Premier League Productions show Headline Makers and writes for Al Jazeera English.

In 2018, her short documentary Acakoro: From Grass to Grace, emerged as the first runner-up in Africa, in the best Video Documentary category at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. This was the same documentary that won the Best Kenyan Story at the 2018 Kenya International Sports Film Festival.

In November 2019, she was chosen by the Egyptian government to receive the Excellence Award for Young African Journalists in Sports. She also won the 2019 Excellence Award For Young African Journalists in Sports, issued by the Government of Egypt and the African Youth Bureau.

In July 2020, Waringa’s expose dubbed The Football Con unleashed the rotten ailings in Kenyan football, highlighting how matches were fixed in the country. It detailed how several alleged key players in the intricate web were involved, including football players, referees and ‘money men’ from as far away as Singapore.

The expose was later recognized by the Global Investigative Journalists Network Africa chapter. In 2021, alongside former NMG sports correspondent Jeff Kinyanjui, the exposé earned global recognition as the best in the investigative reporting category in the 2020 International Sports Press Association (AIPS) awards for Africa as a joint print and TV production.

Throughout her career, she has interviewed prominent sporting figures such as FIFA Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldinho, Manchester United treble-winning sportsman Dwight Yorke and Southampton player Theo Walcott.

Idah Waringa interviewing English footballer Theo Walcott at Kasarani Stadium. /FILE