Ferdinand Omondi: Citizen TV Bosses Forced Me to Quit Tahidi High

Ferdinand Omondi worked for several regional media outlets, including Citizen TV, before joining the global media organization, BBC.

Before starting his career in journalism, Omondi acted in Tahidi High as Mule, a cheeky but endearing student.

In a recent YouTube interview on Jikoni time with Obayi in the segment “On My Couch”, the journalist opened up on his climb through the media sector and his reign at the famous show.

He said that although he had chosen between the two when he was offered a job as a reporter at Citizen TV, he had liked acting in the show.

“When I was confirmed at Citizen TV as a reporter, I was still acting at Tahidi High and there was a clash between Mule the character and myself as the media personality,” he told the host Patrick Obayi.

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He added that in addition to the public perception, there was also a conflict of the schedules as days he was meant to shoot the show he was also expected to report for the station and his editors made him choose between the two.

“I did not want to leave Tahidi High but there was an ultimatum and I had to quit the show,” he stated.

Omondi noted that he wanted to leave the show on a high as he had been nominated for an award the years Chaguo La Teeniz Awards but that did not materialize.

“When I left the pay was increased to Ksh10,000 an episode from the Ksh3,000 which we used to earn when I was at the show,” he observed.

Omondi went on to be a reporter at Citizen TV for three years before he was laid off in a restructuring at the station.

He thereafter moved to NTV where he was the designated Coast Region reporter for the media house. He was later poached by KTN in the same capacity.

The journalist later applied for a job at BBC where he was successful, initially serving as the Coast correspondent before he was moved to the Nairobi Bureau.

“At BBC, I wanted to be forgotten by the masses for a while, especially with the media celebrity culture in the country,” he stated.