Kenyans in particular have been at logger heads with the media because of the manner in which it is disseminating its content. Many say it is partisan and one sided, and all this is the cause of journalists like veterans Swaleh Mdoe , Mwanahamisi Hamadi and many others.
In a new twist of events, Citizen TV has been locked with a mega scam that has threatened to bring it down completely.
This explains why the RMS-owned TV station has swiftly moved to suspend its top cream as it ventures into investigations that the celebrated journalists colluded with a prominent politician to kill a negative story almost a month ago.
Swaleh Mdoe, Mwanahamisi Hamadi, Shisia Wasilwa, Kimeli Arap Kemei, Yusuf Ali and several others have been indefinitely suspended after it was established that they received money from a prominent Nairobi politician to kill a story about him.
The politician is said to have channeled the money to the journalists who then killed the story even after it had run in the highlights.
The politician is said to have been involved in an altercation in the recently concluded Kajiado by-elections and later on abused journalists covering the event, promising them that the story would never run.
And true to his word, the story never ran as the likes of Swaleh Mdoe and Mwanahamisi Hamadi who are Swahili editors at Citizen, alongside video editors Mumbi and Lilian and celebrated reporters Sishia Wasilwa, Yusuf Ali and Kimeli Arap Kemei among others received some bribe from the politician to kill the story.
The latest development has greatly threatened to bring down Citizen TV which is gradually losing its ground on major TV stations in the country thanks to the newsroom politics taking toll on majority of its journalists and the management.
Our reliable source tells us that the journalists have been suspended for 10 days pending investigations and if found guilty they will effectively lose their jobs.
Meanwhile, for the next 10 days, Kanze Dena and Lulu Hassan, who mostly appear on TV on weekends, will be in charge of the Citizen Nipashe news.