The Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) has claimed that journalists and correspondents working for the Standard Media Group, Radio Africa and MediaMax are going months without receiving monthly salaries.
“We have received distress calls from three media houses mainly, The Standard Group PLC, Mediamax and Radio Africa Group that have not paid their staff and correspondents for about 10 months in the wake of difficult economic times and high cost of living in the country,” a statement by KUJ Secretary General Erick Oduor said.
“Let me remind media owners that they are operating in a space where public trust is paramount and, therefore, they cannot hold other people to account if their own hands are not clean.”
In the demand letter, Mr. Oduor accuses media owners of benefitting from the sweat of their employees, some of whom had families going to bed hungry.
Mr. Oduor further said that as a result of non-payment of salaries by media houses, it should be made mandatory for media owners to produce proof of worker payments before accessing government advertisements.
“Corporate governance is becoming a new threat to media freedom in Kenya where managers are not concerned with the welfare of their employees, yet they expect to play a watchdog role for the common good of the society,” said Oduor in the statement.
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These claims come hot on the heels of a pay dispute between journalists under the Kenya Union of Journalists and the Standard Media Group. KUJ had accused Standard Media Group of failing to pay journalists for nearly ten months.
