By Ali Nur
Disquiet is growing among Nation Media Group correspondents affected by perceived draconian new rule where payment is only made when contributions match retainer.
The new directive, which has triggered uproar, is seen as an approach to punish correspondents who are charged with the donkey work and especially those with high retainer.
Head of correspondents Peter Ngare is now treated as bad news, after it emerged that he was solely the brain child of the new mode of operations described as demoralizing.
The development comes just a few days after an anonymous and dejected staff at Royal Media Services caused a stir through a hard hitting email detailing how the S.K. Macharia owned company preferred ‘lazy’ presenters for hefty payment at the expense of correspondents toiling for stories.
Weekly Citizen is informed that the Nation correspondents across the country are now on a go slow in protest of the new order announced terming it illogical and bound to affect quality of their stories.
Under the new rule, it is likely that the correspondents will turn focus on quantity of stories at the expense of quality.
For example, a correspondent earning Sh.30, 000 as a retainer will sweat for nothing throughout the month if the total number of stories in the month does not meet the retainer amount.
Some correspondents are silently protesting in coiled tails but the brave lot has refused to sign the new deal terming it a breach of contract.
According to the rebellious group, the current contract that was signed in January this year is set to expire in December and therefore it was suspect to end the same midway.
Ngare is now an enemy to many within the media house and he is accused of unceremoniously edging out Taifa Leo editor. He now doubles as head of correspondents and Taifa Leo editor but there is murmuring that he is exploiting the latter for his own personal gains especially through fighting ODM leader Raila Odinga.
Any keen observer must have noticed that of late, Taifa Leo headlines are twisted to expose Raila in bad light.
This has been a case of concern among a section of readers and analysts, who wonder how a respected media house in East and Central Africa has turned into a propaganda tool.
Weekly Citizen understands that the matter has been debated at some level at Nation Center.
Back at Daily Nation, word has it, city tycoon Paul Wanderi Ndung’u fighting wars to control SportsPesa is bankrolling three senior editors with millions of shillings to fight on his behalf.
Mutuma Mathiu, the group Editorial Director is a key player in the SportsPesa war. By last week, Weekly Citizen has information, Ndungu associated with Wonder Joy, a firm that handles hospitality at State House functions had used Sh.10 million to influence Nation products to report in depth board room wars at SportsPesa almost on weekly basis.
Surprisingly, the said articles are written in favour of Ndung’u and another shareholder Asenath Wacera Maina. Nation Media SportsPesa reports are mostly lead stories and during bargains, Muthuma asks fully page coloured advert rates thus wrecking in millions of shillings. At Nation, journalists Mathiu assign to write SportsPesa articles are well known.
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