Crisis Looms As Radio Africa Group Threatens To Fire Staff

Kenyan media houses risk being plunged into turbulent times after Radio Africa Group joined the list of media companies announcing mass firings.

In its internal memo seen by Viral Tea, the media company which owns radio stations KISS 100, Homeboyz Radio and Radio Jambo as well as KISS TV and The Star newspaper as well as online entertainment and news platform, Mpasho, informed its employees of an intention to reorganize its business operations.

According to RAG Group CEO Patrick Quarcoo, the move was informed by a shift in the media environment that has forced it to make changes to its business model to keep it in competition with other media houses in the country.

However, the internal shift in operations, he explained, may lead to some positions being struck off.

Radio Africa Group CEO Patrick Quarcoo. /THE STAR

"As you may have observed in the recent past, there has been a shift in the media industry that has over time forced us to make changes in our business model, to maintain our competitive edge as a company. 

"As management, we have been faced with a situation that requires a critical business decision to be made to ensure business continuity. We will therefore be reorganizing our internal business operations and in the process, we may declare numerous positions redundant based on the new structure," Quarcoo explained.

Already, Nation Media Group (NMG), Standard Media Group (SMG) and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) have announced their intentions to fire staff, with the bug feared that it will affect many more media houses in the coming weeks.

For NMG's case, the mass firings targeted senior editors and veteran journalists across all its products, including NTV which has already lost Mark Masai and Dennis Okari. At Nation, Churchill Otieno and Mutuma Mathiu have been among the biggest names to be shown the door.

Mathiu announced his exit in a farewell letter to NMG journalists on Wednesday, December 7. Beforehand, he worked at the media house for more than two decades.

"I must say that too often I threw some of you in the deep end and sat back to endure your struggles. Maybe there is a better way of raising journalists in the newsroom. However, editors must grow strong legs to stand their ground in a tough world. They must also acquire absolute faith in their own judgement. These skills cannot be taught by having your boss do your job for you or maintaining a regular routine of sob sessions, in my opinion. One must be prepared to be tough," he wrote in part.

SMG announced a redundancy on Friday, September 30, signalling a mass firing of employees. Initial reports revealed that the CEO had turned to a delay tactic in terms of salaries to allow the impatient workers to fall off.

Scribes Kenya group of journalists drawn from different media stations appealed to President William Ruto to intervene in the struggling media houses by bailing them out to prevent further job losses.