Zubeida Kananu was suspended by the Standard Group for attending the Editors' Summit in Tanzania. Her mission was to raise the company's profile and, secure business opportunities. Yet, to Alex, who has spent his entire career at Standard that's nonsense.
To understand the problems inside the Standard newsroom, one
must look at what happened when Alex took charge. He dismantled all existing
desks and replaced them with a single "national desk" run purely by
word of mouth. This meant reporters covering crime, economy, health, and other
specialized beats were lumped under one editor. This was a typical move of
someone with little vision. At a time when media houses across the world were
expanding desks and investing in specialized reporting, Alex chose the opposite
path.
Alex was previously fired as bureau chief in Nakuru but went
to Gideon Moi and returned to Nairobi as Associate Editor. Now claiming
connections to the Moi family and armed with screenshots and WhatsApp messages
he insists prove his ties, Alex behaves as if he is always right. He assumes he
is more competent than dozens of journalists who have worked in established
stations far better than Standard.
Even while away, he holds WhatsApp video calls to berate
other staff. Masquerading as CEO, shareholder, and employer, he wields absolute
power, keeping everyone at his mercy. Alex Kiprotich claims he is there to
protect the interests of the shareholders, even if they wanted the company to
be a hospital. Meanwhile, he has assigned himself four company vehicles and
operates from his home in Nakuru, while journalists at Standard are left
scrambling to share just a handful of cars.
Under Alex Kiprotich's leadership, the company's financial
mismanagement has reached alarming levels. Some employees have not been paid
for over 10 months, pension contributions have not been remitted, and SACCO
deductions have not been forwarded to the respective institutions. Yet Alex
Kiprotich continues to enjoy his fleet of company vehicles while staff struggle
with basic financial survival.
His disdain is reserved for the most established journalists,
while his favoritism is clear toward the young staff. You can guess his
preferences. In meetings, Alex Kiprotich frequently invokes Gideon Moi's name
to intimidate everyone, pairing it with threats of dismissal. His greetings
often sound like ultimatums: "Wewe unacheza sana. Do you know I can fire
you?"
To further destabilize the newsroom, Alex Kiprotich constantly shifts staff around. Swahili editors were moved to English desks, while others were quietly dropped from TV. Skilled journalists who once worked seamlessly across TV and print were forced to surrender their TV stories to Alex Kiprotich's preferred colleagues, effectively confining them to the newspaper section. These abrupt changes came without a single memo or email, only word of mouth, reinforced by threats: "Nyinyi munapenda mchezo sana, mutajua mimi ni nani."
The chaos reached new heights this week when two complete
strangers walked into the editors' desks, handed over a video clip, and
instructed an editor, "Run this story." When asked who had sent them,
their reply was chillingly casual: "Tumetumwa na Alex." No
introductions, no line manager briefings, not even an orientation. Just orders,
delivered in his name.
These revelations from Standard employees raise a troubling
question about the media house's integrity. How ironic that a publication that
regularly runs headlines pushing for accountability in government, workers'
rights, fair wages, and transparency treats its own staff so poorly. While
Standard's front pages champion the common mwananchi's struggles with unpaid
salaries and pension theft, their own journalists endure the very injustices
they report on.
It is time for serious reflection from the shareholders. Are
these headlines driven by genuine concern for Kenyans, or are they merely PR
exercises to maintain public credibility while the house burns from within? How
can Standard credibly hold other institutions accountable for worker
mistreatment when they cannot even pay their own staff for 10 months or remit
their pension contributions?
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