Mwananchi pays glowing tribute to Kabudi

Dar es Salaam. Members of the Board of Directors of Mwananchi Communications Limited (MCL) have paid a glowing tribute to Prof Palamagamba Kabudi who has left it after a distinguished eight-year long service.

MCL board chairman Leonard Mususa and Nation Media Group chief executive officer Joe Muganda led the team paying the tributes.

Prof Kabudi chaired the Editorial Committee during the time. MCL publishes The Citizen, Mwananchi and Mwanaspoti which are leading and respected newspaper titles in Tanzania. The colourful ceremony was held on Tuesday at the Serena Hotel. It was attended by among others the immediate former MCL board chairperson Zuhura Muro and University of Dar es Salaam outgoing Vice Chancellor, Prof Rwekaza Mukandala.

Prof Kabudi was in July 2016 appointed by President John Magufuli to chair the board of directors of the TIB Development Bank.

Speaking at the event, Mr Mususa said MCL benefitted greatly from Prof Kabudi’s wisdom and dedication. “He made invaluable contributions to the growth of our newspapers and development of our journalists,” noted Mr Mususa.

“Among the responsibilities of the Committee is to make sure that our papers provide quality news that satisfies the needs of our readers and even attracts new ones. Given his training and experience, Prof Kabudi was tailor-made for the Editorial Committee chair role,” he said, adding that despite having a detailed editorial policy and guidelines for its journalists, the MCL grew in strength due to the wealth of experience Prof Kabudi brought to the table.

Mr Mususa and Mr Muganda both said they will continue to consult and seek support from Prof Kabudi.

For his part, Mr Muganda said the larger Nation Media Group of which MCL is a subsidiary will continue to tap from Prof Kabudi’s wisdom.

“I have worked in scores of African countries and met many people but Prof Kabudi was one of a kind. As we bid him farewell today we remain hopeful that he will not tire of our requests for his counsel,” he said.

MCL managing director Francis Nanai also saluted Prof Kabudi for his fatherly leadership. “As management we will remember him for the guidance that enabled our newspapers, among other things, to navigate the hotly contested 2015 elections successfully,” said Mr Nanai.

In his remarks, Prof Kabudi said he was privileged to have served in the MCL board and noted that the many years have seen tremendous change in the local media landscape. “There is certainly more dynamism and professionalism and want to thank NMG for the media lab programme that helped train Tanzanian journalists who are now working even in other media houses,” he said.

He said the media fraternity should continue to embrace professionalism as they occupy a critical place in the society. “We now want to see more efforts driven towards specialisation among our journalists to raise standards further and entrench competence,” he counselled.