Workers at the troubled Media Max limited have accused its management of turning it into toxic workplace filled with gays among other troubling accusations which have exposed serious infighting that is bedeviling the Kijabe street entity.
In a hard-hitting letter sent to the board of directors, the employees who have been working on half pay for the last three years say they are being treated in an inhuman way by the top management of the company led by suspended CEO Ken Ngaruiya.
Mediamax media owns K24 TV, Kameme TV, Kameme FM, Milele FM, Msenangu FM, Emoo FM, Mayian FM, Meru FM, People Daily newspaper and two websites — www.k24tv.co.ke and www.pd.co.ke.
“We as the staff of MediaMax Networks Limited write this letter with a lot of pain, cry and plea that you critically and humbly hear our voice of the sad affair of the running of this organisation,” the four-page letter dated Friday, January 20 read in part.
“We want to categorically say that we have not written this open letter to negotiate about our salaries. No, we want to be provided with a safe, respectable, non-intimidating and conducive working environment to see this organisation get to the next level,” the letter added in part.
“We have taken this path to put forward our grievances without creating any unnecessary media attention because we value this organisation,” it added.
According to the employees, the CEO forms a huge part of the problems facing the company and that he has to go for there to be any meaningful change. They have accused him of being a micromanager who has insisted to have a say on every little thing that takes place at the media house,
“The CEO is everything. He is the technical manager, he is the programs manager, he is the transport manager, he is the HR, he is the chief accountant and editor in chief. He wants to be all,” said the letter which has also accused the CEO of disrespecting staff.
“The CEO has no respect for staff. He has no respect for families. He has no respect for marriages. He has no respect for children. He will punish you for giving any reason touching on the above. You will be denied leave to attend to certain emergencies at home simply because they are touching on the above,” say the employees.
“Sorry to say this organization has turned to be a gay centre, with most of the departments with such persons,” say the employees.
The letter described Mr Ngaruiya as a man who wanted to feature everywhere and in almost every department of the company.
It said that he was the technical manager, he is the program manager, he is the transport manager, he is the Human Resource (HR), he is the chief accountant and Editor in chief.
The journalists further said that they had been subjected in unnecessary suffering as they lamented that they were in pain.
“Sir, we are in pain. We have suffered. We have gone through hell. Our families have been put at very awkward situations. We have come to an end. Staff have died due to stress. Just last week, a Meru FM presenter was committing suicide due to these issues that we staff are going through and no one is coming to our aid. We need total freedom from this situation,” the letter further read.
“We acknowledge that business has been slow, but we are also aware and very sure that this is a very potential organisation if we can have a leader,” the employees demanded.