One of KBC’s newly acquired ‘legend’ presenters has quit, just two months after signing up for the national broadcaster in the widely hyped June 2021 relaunch. Mr Fred Indimuli is understood to have resigned last week to the surprise of KBC top managers.
He is said to have reached a deal to join KTN, owned by Standard Group, where he is expected to replace Ben Kitili, who left Standard Group to return to NTV. Ben Kitili bid his fans goodbye on 17th August when he presented his last news bulletin at the station, after eight years at Standard Group. Mr Kitili had previously worked at NTV before he resigned in 2013.
Mr Indimuli’s exit has shaken KBC, coming at a time when its June 21st relaunch was just beginning to gather speed. In the KBC revamp, Mr Indimuli had been paired up with Skiksha Arora for the Easy Friday evening bulletin.
They had created a terrific match by local broadcast standard and now Arora suddenly finds herself a screen ‘widow’. Most presenters had been paid male and female, as is the trend in a number of local TV stations.
Mr Indimuli was part of the cast brought on board under the Legends banner, who included queen of TV Catherine Kasavuli the legendary Fayyaz Qureishi (both formerly of KTN), Badi Muhsin and Pauline Sheghu. Other new faces on KBC Channel 1 included Tom Mboya, Cynthia Nyamai, Shiksha Arora, John Kioria Juma Ballo, Harith Salim and Nancy Onyancha.
KBC will have to reshuffle its presenters to fill in the gap. Mr Indimuli’s early exit has exposed the shaky ‘casual’ employment deal that KBC brought the legends on, which might not be sustainable for the younger lot still salivating for greener pastures.
The presenters were hired as “performing artists/talents”, or casual in simple terms. Performing artists are paid only for what they do. They are not on the corporation’s payroll and thus don’t enjoy things like medical cover and other benefits. For many, anything better can seem irresistible.
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Mr Indimuli has had quite eventful career moves. He was an online editor at Radio Africa Group Limited before he joined Kiss TV as TV and radio editor.
He then graced the Kenya Broadcasting Channel (KBC) screens for a while before getting a very good deal at Citizen TV, where he worked for Royal Media Services for over two years before exiting in October 2018 for K24 to anchor prime time news. He later left K24 and re-emerged as a legend when KBC relaunched in June this year.
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