Mwananchi Communications

Mwananchi Communications Ltd is a company based in Tanzania.[1] Mwananchi Communications Ltd, engages in the print media and radio, and is the publisher of Tanzania's leading daily newspaper, Mwananchi (in Swahili), and others such as The Citizen, Sunday Citizen, Mwananchi Jumapili, and Mwanaspoti.

The executive editor is Bakari Steven Machumu and the Mwananchi daily managing editor is Frank Sanga. Abdul Mohamed heads Mwanaspoti in Tanzania and Kenya. Sanga is regarded as the sports journalism guru in the region. His influence in sports led Kenyan media to start sports newspapers, such as Sports On and Game Yetu.Thomas Mosoba is the managing editor of The Citizen Daily, which has contributed much to socio-economic changes in Tanzania and in the region as well.

The company was established in May 1999 by Ambassador Ferdinand Ruhinda[2] as Media Communications Ltd. But in April 2001, a new business was established (Advertising Agency & Public Relations) and a new company was formed—Mwananchi Communications Ltd. In the very same year Mwananchi Communications Ltd was acquired[3][4] by the Nation Media Group[5][6] (NMG),[7] which is based in Nairobi, Kenya.[8]

Location
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group, the parent company of Mwananchi Communications Ltd.

It is headquartered at Plot No. 34/35 Tabata Relini[9] on Mandela Road, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.[10] It is part of the Nation Media Group, a publicly listed company, quoted on the Nairobi Stock Exchange, and has about 7,500 shareholders. Its principal shareholder is the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network.

History

The history of Mwananchi Communications Ltd. can be traced back to 1999 when Hon. Ferdinand Ruhinda[2] started a communications company known as Media Communications Ltd, which saw an important need to introduce a daily Swahili paper Mwananchi registered on April 20, 2000. On May 27, 2000, the first copy of Mwananchi was launched. It was a 12-page newspaper retailing at Sh150. The market at the time was not as fragmented as it is now, as there were only three mainstream daily Swahili newspapers in the market as opposed to the eight mainstream daily Swahili papers today. This paper has since had continuous improvement for format and presentation that has seen its leadership position in the market sustained.

Shortly after the launch of Mwananchi, a biweekly sports newspaper Mwanaspoti was launched on February 12, 2001, respectively. It was a 12-page sports paper retailing at only Sh100. This paper has also gone through tremendous improvement for content and format to ensure that the ever changing needs of its readers are met.

After two and half years of successful operations of the two products, in April 2001, the role of publishing was handed over from Media Communications to a newly registered publishing company, Mwananchi Communications Ltd. In December 2002, Nation Media Group of Kenya purchased[5] controlling interests in the company and this has since helped to ingrain the company with world class values in editorial management including standardizing the group's editorial policies.

Having registered The Citizen with Tanzania Information Services (Maelezo) on March 2, 2001, the paper was only fully launched and published on September 16, 2004, to become the fifth English daily newspaper in the market.

The Company's publications were printed by contract until 2005, when it acquired a secondhand printing press from Australia.

In 2020 it was ordered by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority to suspend the online publication of Mwananchi for six months and pay a fine of 5 million shilling for publishing "misleading information that caused confusion in the community".[11] Two of its employees were arrested and charged accused of breaching the cybercrimes act of 2015.[12]

Newspapers
English language newspapers
  • The Citizen – An independent English newspaper in Tanzania
  • The Citizen on Sunday – The Sunday edition of The Citizen
Swahili-language newspapers
  • Mwananchi – Leading daily newspaper in Tanzania
  • Mwanaspoti – A biweekly sports and entertainment newspaper
  • Mwananchi Jumapili – The Sunday edition of Mwananchi newspaper

Magazines
Newsstand
English language magazines
  • Your Health – a health magazine published every Monday and carried in The Citizen
  • Political Platform – a political review magazine published every Wednesday and carried in The Citizen
  • Success – an education review magazine published every Monday and carried in The Citizen
  • The Beat – a magazine focusing on entertainment and showbiz issues published every Friday and carried in The Citizen
  • Business Week – a business magazine published every Thursday and carried in The Citizen
  • Woman – a woman's magazine published every Saturday and carried in The Citizen
  • Sound Living - A family magazine that features uplifting stories that happen in society
Swahili-language magazines
  • SpotiMikiki – a sports magazine published every Monday and carried in Mwananchi
  • Siasa – focuses on analysis of the recent political events and investigative stories; a pullout published every Tuesday and carried in Mwananchi
  • Maarifa – a platform for sharing among students and teachers. It is a pullout published every Wednesday and carried in Mwananchi
  • Uchumi – a magazine that focuses on business news, events, and economic matters, it is published every Thursday and carried in Mwananchi
  • Jungukuu – a society issues magazine published every Friday and carried in Mwananchi
  • Starehe – a sports magazine published every Saturday and carried in Mwananchi
  • Johari – a special pull-out magazine targeted at the female reader, with articles on fashion, decor, beauty, short stories, parenting advice etc., published every Sunday and carried in Mwananchi Jumapili

References
  2. "Rostam Aziz of New Habari Corporation: The facts". Jamiiforums.com. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 13, 2010. Retrieved April 6, 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Questia, Your Online Research Library". Accessmylibrary.com. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  6. Archived June 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  9. "Wikimapia - Let's describe the whole world!". wikimapia.org. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
  10. "Mwananchi Communications Ltd - Dar es Salaam - Media/Nieuws/Publicaties". Facebook. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  11. "TCRA suspends Mwananchi's online license for six months". The Citizen. April 17, 2020. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  12. "News: Wafanyakazi 2 wa gazeti la Mwananchi mbaroni kwa upotoshaji". Muakilishi (in Swahili). May 2, 2020. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
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