KTN has suffered yet another blow after Crime and Investigations Editor Hussein Mohamed served a one month’s notice this week expressing his desire to join BBC Africa where he has landed a role as a senior investigative journalist for Africa Eye, the investigative series.
Hussein (pictured above), who joined KTN eight years ago, rose through the ranks after first joining the broadcaster as an intern in the Swahili news desk in April 2012 before working his way up to become the Crime and Investigations Editor and now joins the BBC after an eventful stint at the Standard Group.
This means that Mohamed will be at the Mombasa Road-based media house for another month as his bosses figure out the next step.
Business Today has previously reported on the frustrations the KTN investigations desk is subjected to by the management and a reliable source has told Business Today that such made his decision to decamp far much easier.
Whether KTN will replace Mohamed is another conundrum altogether as sources indicate that the management has been deliberating on whether to disband the investigations desk as it did when Mohamed “Jicho Pevu” Ali left the newsroom to become a politician.
This is not merely a thought as Standard has already proved capable of going against the grain by disbanding its newspaper investigations team that comprised of Vincent Achuka (now at Nation), Daniel Wesangula as well as other journalists.
As it stands, the KTN News investigations team has been left with three reporters including Brian Obuya, Sirajurahman Abdulla and Franklin Wallah.
Brian Obuya is the most senior journalist at the desk considering Sirajurahman joined the desk in 2018 while Wallah, although an experienced and respected crime and investigations journalist, joined KTN from K24 in September 2019.
KTN could however choose to elevate Sharon Momanyi who doubles up as a news anchor and features editor by adding Hussein’s duties to her roaster.
That is one option. The desk could also be entrusted to the remaining members under the supervision of Managing Editor Ellen Wanjiru which is very likely as Hussein, then a budding journalist took over when Dennis Onsarigo, a founding member of KTN’s pioneer investigative desk left the broadcaster.
The other option would be to bring a new face onboard to lead the team.
Hussein is an award winning journalist and will leave behind a solid legacy at the media station and in the minds of Kenyans having done some conversation-triggering pieces.
In his catalogue are some noteworthy reports including The Enemy Within an investigation about Kenya’s weaknesses in the fight against terror, Servitude, a story about child trafficking at the Kenya Ethiopia border and Merchandised– an investigative report that laid bare how foreign undocumented girls were being trafficked to Kenya to dance in night clubs with the proceeds going to their handlers.
“He will be a big miss for KTN as a whole, his commitment to his work has been unparalleled plus there are not many journalists out there with similar qualities out there so it’s a win for BBC and a loss for KTN,” a source told Business Today.
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