Failures and challenges that didn’t kill us made us stronger

Reflections by MCL’s outgoing Managing Director, Bakari Machumu

There is an old adage that goes, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

Another one says, “A ship in harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”

Such has been the journey at Mwananchi Communications Limited – probing, daring, pushing the boundaries, albeit within the limits. In the process, we had our fingers burnt from time to time.

When we started The Citizen, the norm was that respected English newspapers usually come as broadsheets, but here we were setting up a tabloid-sized newspaper.

The perception was that tabloids aren’t serious enough, but the founders stuck to their guns, coming up with a slogan that is still catchy nearly 20 years later: “It’s the content that counts.”

The tabloid perception didn’t kill The Citizen; it made it stronger!

In 2005, as the ruling CCM’s intraparty presidential nomination was heating up, MCL found itself in trouble after publishing a picture that was later confirmed to have been altered to portray one of the candidates negatively.

The MCL board took this matter seriously and, upon establishing beyond reasonable doubt that the gatekeeping system had been compromised, took decisive measures against those who allowed the content to find its way into the paper under their watch.

As a young editor, I was watching keenly, witnessing how robust NMG governance structures are and the fact that principles are at the centre of how we not only protect but also live our values.

It didn’t kill us. We learnt our lesson the hard way and it made us stronger in the run-up to subsequent elections.

That same year, we were hit with yet another crisis.

Those being the early days of NMG investing in MCL, the firm deployed a contingent of top Kenyan journalists to help streamline operations at the Tanzanian subsidiary, especially for The Citizen.

However, the team was sidelined for lack of proper documentation, leaving a huge operational gap in the newsroom.

Subsequently, Mr Theophil Makunga, who had been seconded to Nairobi to help revitalise Taifa Leo, had to come back to oversee editorial operations at MCL. We survived. It didn’t kill us; it made us stronger.

In September 2013, just two days after I was confirmed to take charge of editorial operations as Executive Editor, Mwananchi newspaper was banned from publishing for 14 days. That was a baptism of fire for me.

Additional bans would follow in later years and they came with different reasons. In February 2019 The Citizen was banned for seven days.

And in April 2020, right in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic when  distribution was disrupted with people fearing to buy newspapers lest they ended up contracting the virus, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) suspended Mwananchi’s online licence for six months. This was a big blow because online content was the only sure way to reach audiences.

We found ourselves having to deal with regulatory and compliance issues after the coming into effect of the Media Services Act, 2016. These were trying times.

We survived thanks to the elaborate structure and systems that were in place at the time. Of utmost importance are the lessons we learnt from these occurrences. We learnt to embrace complex communications with key stakeholders.

We have survived all these. They didn’t kill us, but made us stronger.

During MCL’s formative years the firm was accused of carrying a foreign agenda and that The Citizen team from Nairobi wasn’t doing any meaningful work, but rather putting together  what was purportedly produced outside the country.

Knowing the truth, the board directed the then MD, Francis Nanai, and myself as Executive Editor to amplify our stakeholder engagement efforts, which included going out more to explain who we are, why we exist and who is who at the company.

This, coupled with stakeholders’ visits to our head office in Tabata, Dar es Salaam, was able to demonstrate that it was indeed fellow Tanzanian women and men were in charge of all operations.

If we happened to get it wrong, it was because of our human shortcomings and it was never intentional. This also didn’t kill us; it made us stronger.

On November 21, 2017, our company and indeed the media industry and well-wishers were shocked by news of the disappearance of our correspondent, Azory Gwanda, from his home near Kibiti, Rufiji District, in Coast Region.

His absence to date remains a big puzzle to his family and colleagues at MCL and beyond. As the board has always put it, we can only wish that Azory’s family would be helped to reach closure and move on. This one shook us to the core!

In early 2018 we had to suspend four senior editors on allegations of misconduct. This too shook me to the core. We had to incur significant costs to investigate the matter. They were cleared and rejoined the team.

The matter came and went and I realised how the group/company could go to great lengths to protect and defend its journalists when they uphold the editorial policy. This didn’t kill us either.

It actually assured us of a shield in the form of the board where we are on the straight and narrow.

On August 29, 2023 fire gutted our production store, destroying inventory worth more than Sh1 billion as well as part of the printing press. This disrupted our operations as well as services to our contract printing partners. We recovered from the incident and learnt a few things. It was at that time that I saw how painful it was for all staff. This is what can be better described in Kiswahili as “uchungu wa wafanyakazi kwa kampuni yao.”

Yes, it didn’t kill us; it made us stronger.

And as if that was not enough, in the last quarter of 2023, we woke up to the news that the High Court had slapped a garnishee order on us that locked the company  out of its bank accounts.

It will be two months of struggle and sleepless nights to keep the ship afloat as we couldn’t pay salaries in full and meet operational costs in a timely manner.

As they say, every cloud has a silver lining. We survived that too. We learnt our lessons. It didn’t kill us; it made us stronger.

We have been through a lot more in the past 20 years. Time will not allow me to touch on everything. Perhaps let me end by looking at another big challenge that will not go away any time soon: digital disruption! This disruption has affected the media industry perhaps more than any other sector.

But we are taking the bull by the horns. We started with digitising our content in 2016/17. We became the first converged newsroom in Tanzania. Three years later, we reviewed progress and embarked on the digital transformation journey. We are not there yet, but we are ready for take-off. Digital disruption hasn’t killed us so far; we are getting stronger by the day as we keep diversifying our products and services.

My job, as was the case with my predecessors – David Waweru, Ali Mwambola (who discovered the leadership in me), Sam Shollei, Tido Mhando and Francis Nanai – has been to run my part on the continuous MCL relay before passing the button to the next runner – Victor Amani Mushi.

Challenges and uncertainties will never end. However, our preparedness and resolve will enable us to persevere and prevail. Let’s embrace challenges as a way of building resilience and preparedness.

Keep building together. Keep empowering the nation!