Media owners pick Royal Media MD as chairman

The Media Owners Association (MOA) has elected Royal Media Services Managing Director Wachira Waruru as its chairman. He takes over from Dr Hanningtone Gaya from Media 7 Magazine who had served for two terms.

During the elections held at its annual general meeting held on Friday  Nation Media Group’s Editor-in-Chief Tom Mshindi was tapped to deputise Waruru while acting Standard Group CEO Orlando Lyomu  was chosen as Secretary.

Mediamax Network CEO Ian Fernandes was picked as the Treasurer and Ms Agnes Kalekye of Radio Africa as the Organising Secretary.

In the outgoing office, Julius Lamaon of Kass Group served as the Vice Chairman, the Secretary was David Kimotho (Three Stones TV) while Cyrus Kamau (Capital Group Limited) served as Treasurer, and Francis Munywoki (Standard Group, now Nation Media Group)  as the Organising Secretary.

READ: Push and pull over system of government

MOA brings together media owners and senior industry executives.

Waruru is the current chairman of the organising committee for the Presidential Debate and a former chairman of the Media Council of Kenya. He brings on board vast experience in the management of the media industry. The Members of the Association appreciated the outgoing office bearers for concrete achievements like development of the industry broadcasting code and negotiation of reasonable tariffs with the Kenya Copyright Board and the Collective Management Organizations.

The new officials come in at very a challenging time for media which is currently grappling with issues such as huge  debt owed by suppliers, significant skill challenges, digital disruptions and the rocky State versus media relations.

The Members of the Executive Committee for the Association comprise of Stephen Gitagama (NMG), Cyrus Kamau (Capital FM), Dr. Hanningtone Gaya (Media 7), Rose Kimotho (Three Stones), Joshua Chepkwony (Kass Media), Patrick Quarcoo (Radio Africa), Steve Isaboke (Multichoice), Leo Slingerland (Family Media), Paul Jilani (Kenya Broadcasting), Nadir Kilic (Ebru Africa) and Kiprono Kittony (Radio Africa).