Celebrations have swept the Standard Group newsroom after reports emerged that the Tormentor Editor-in-Chief, Ochieng Rapuro, is finally exiting.
Highly placed sources indicate that Rapuro opted to resign under the Voluntary Early Retirement (VER) program after it emerged that he was among those to be dismissed.
“He has put in his papers for VER. He knew what was coming,” an insider in the Moi-owned media house said.
On the 5th of October, the Mombasa Road-based SG Acting CEO, Joe Munene, issued a redundancy notice while asking staff members to opt for the VER.
Accordingly, about 50 employees from various departments have already applied for the program.
Signs that Rapuro was on his way out were clear after Munene’s appointment to the helm to replace Orlando Lyomu.
Rapuro, who was a close ally of Lyomu, had isolated Munene, who was then managing director of broadcasting.
Rapuro has in the past been accused of harassing senior journalists, the majority of whom he frustrated and pushed out since 2019 when he joined from The Standard.
Among those he ejected are KTN editors Ben Kitili and Linda Ogutu, Sports Editor Robin Toskin, Crime Reporter Cyrus Ombati, Business writer Moses Michira, Political reporters Roslyin Obala, Moses Njagi, Geoffrey Mosoku, Moses Nyamori, Rawlings Otieno, among others.
“You should see the mood in the newsroom over reports of his exit. This man is a sadist. We are happy he is finally leaving. Sanity can now return to the newsroom,” a senior editor told us.
