Nation Media Group’s Africa and International editor Leila Mohammed has bid farewell to her employer of 10 years.
It is not known yet where she is headed but it is rumoured that she is set to join the BBC.
Leila, a graduate of Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology joined Nation Media straight from campus in 2013 as part of the media lab program. She initially worked at QTV but moved to NTV after the swahili TV station shut down in 2016.
“I formally joined NTV in July 2016. Before that, I have been an intern at KBC and Iqra FM,” she said in a previous interview with the Daily Nation.
“I have not done as much as many other women in the industry. But every day presents me with an opportunity to do something significant. In the last few years, I have been through the corridors of power and also to the lowliest places in this country,” she says.
In 2018, she was the only civilian woman to go to Somalia during an African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) sponsored trip to see how Kenyan troops served. She was among journalists, drawn from different media houses in Kenya, who had the opportunity to traverse Somalia.
“Looking back, that was the beginning of a new journey for me to not only look at security as local crime, but to see a bigger picture that connects security, diplomacy, human rights and people in one sentence,” she said in a previous interview.
Leila’s exit is definitely set to send Nation Media’s editorial director Joe Ageyo back to the drawing board. She was recently promoted to be the African Editor, a position is among those created in April by the company in a bid to turn around into a 21st-century digital media house.
“As you are aware, our newsroom integration project is now well underway. Earlier this month, we put in place a team of senior editors to oversee the various functions in our integrated structure,” said Ageyo in May while announcing changes within management.
“In order to accelerate this process of transforming our journalism, I wish to announce the following appointments as part of our new newsroom structure,” the memo read in part.
These changes were supposed to be followed by a reorganisation of the entire newsroom in May. These changes are yet to happen. Meanwhile, some staff members like Jill Namatsi of the digital desk and Nicholas Komu of the weekend editions have since decided to leave.
