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Kenya Broadcasting Corporation managing director, Mr David Waweru, has been suspended and his position taken by the editor-in-chief, Mr Waithaka Waihenya, in an acting capacity.
This follows claims by Radio Africa that he allowed Royal Media to air World Cup matches, which was against a contract the company signed with the national broadcaster.
The government paid Sh75 million for the World Cup rights in which KBC and Radio Africa were to look for sponsorship during the matches to recover the money.
Radio Africa is said to have approached the Committee of Experts for a deal worth Sh110 million in civic education.
However, before it signed the deal with CoE, Mr Waweru is said to have entered into a contract with Royal Media at a fee of Sh500,000 to broadcast the World Cup matches on radio, convincing CoE to sign the civic education contract on the grounds that they had a wider audience.
This led Radio Africa to lose the deal, meaning that it may be impossible for the government to recover the Sh75 million it invested in the World Cup rights.
This comes at a time when the government is struggling to bail out the corporation, which is financially handicapped.
By last year, KBC had debts running into more than Sh20 billion for equipment and taxes owed to Kenya Revenue Authority.
Apart from being a national broadcaster, the corporation is also in charge of distributing digital content for all broadcasters in the country through its subsidiary company Signet.
Mr Waweru said the matter is already in court and he cannot comment on it.
"I have been suspended because of the World Cup rights issue and the government is investigating the matter."
Mr Waweru was appointed as the managing director in 2006 and took over from Mr Waruru Wachira who is the current managing director at Royal Media.
The suspension comes barely two weeks after industry regulator Communications Commission of Kenya held a workshop to sensitise broadcasters on copyright and related rights ahead of the World Cup, which kicked off on June 11 in South Africa.
The awareness creation workshop was held against a backdrop of mounting complaints to the commission over infringement of intellectual property rights by broadcasters.
The workshop was mounted in partnership with the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) and the Kenya Copyright Board (KCB).
Source:Business Daily: - Company Industry |KBC boss sent home in World Cup rights row http://bit.ly/a6qPnM
(Yimber Gaviria, Colombia 24 June 2010)
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