Nation Media Group’s (NMG) HR Director David Kiambi has left the company barely a month after overseeing the biggest retrenchment at the company.
Kiambi was rumoured to be one of the holders of top managerial positions who were likely to face the cut too. However, an announcement by the company suggests that he left to pursue other interests outside the Group.
The January retrenchment at the Media House was mainly targetting senior employees with huge salaries and also knocking off older employees in the lower cadre. The cut saw top managers, executives, and editors at NMG who were earning huge salaries shown the door.
The company was experiencing financial difficulties and needed to cut off high salaried employees as a measure to cut down its expenditure budget.
Kiambi was among those who the NMG CEO, Stephen Gitagama, was planning to cut off but didn’t. Some of Kiambi’s fellow managers and seniors were axed including former Nation Media Group Company Secretary James Kinyua who was said to be earning a very huge salary.
At the printing plant, General Manager Gideon Aswani was also dismissed. Internal sources say Mr. Aswani was among the top earners at NMG at the time of the retrenchment.
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Kiambi survived the January retrenchment only to leave the company the following month. In a public announcement, Nation Media Group’s CEO confirmed that Kiambi’s last day at the Twin Towers was Friday 21st February. Gitagama, however, recognised Kiambi’s contribution to the Media House for the six years he has worked there.
“He was instrumental in attracting talent and building a pipeline that continues being the foundation to enable the group to deliver today and reposition to win tomorrow. He has left behind a strong team in the HR department which will assure our success in the future,” Gitagama noted.
Prior to his tenure at the Twin Towers, Kiambi has led HR departments of many companies in the company. With more than 19 years of experience working as an HR practitioner at an executive level, Kiambi has worked at British American Tobacco ( BAT) and NIC Bank before joining Nation Media Group.
In the public announcement, Stephen Gatagama wished Kiambi all the best as he begins ‘a new chapter of his life’. However, he did not mention where Kiambi will be heading to after the six years at Nation.
