So Meddie Nsereko is (reportedly) leaving CBS after being on air for more than two decades. His departure will surprise many CBS’s listeners who had come to believe he is a permanent fixture—one of those voices you assume will be there every evening/morning, rain or shine.
But employment, like many things in life, has a beginning and an end. Even when an employee seems immovable, external factors that have nothing to do with the employer getting rid of them, such as death or serious illness, can terminate their employment.
Mr Nsereko is fortunate to have lasted that long. Only senior managers close to Mengo’s centre of power have managed to keep their jobs for decades for the most part.
In 1998, two years after CBS was launched, I did work for CBS’s now-defunct sister newspaper, Njuba Times. Michael Kawooya, who oversaw both CBS and Njuba Times, was the general manager and remains one of the top managers today.
Many others who once looked immovable have since quit or been pushed out.
He can lean on his podcast, The Meddie Nsereko Show. But many employees who have built their names on the strength of their employers’ brands quickly realise that transferring that influence to a personal venture is difficult.
Peter Ssematimba, who was behind CBS’s roaring success in the late 1990s, left in the early 2000s to start his own radio station, Super FM, which has struggled to gain the popularity of CBS, although it soldiers on.
Mulindwa Muwonge, who made his name criticising President Museveni’s government, left CBS and was appointed to head one of the state-owned UBC’s sister stations, Star FM.
For some inexplicable reasons, his popularity and capacity to attract listeners waned when he started working for Star FM as its station manager. He passed away in 2017. Few people—with the exception of his family and those who worked with him at CBS and Star FM—remember him.
Mr Nsereko is walking down the path others have trodden even on a global level. Stephen Sackur worked for the BBC for decades, starting as a correspondent. He reported from many countries, covering politics and even wars.
When Tim Sebastian, the maiden presenter of Hardtalk quit, he took over. Mr Sackur interviewed world leaders and just about everybody who matters: authors, top athletes, musicians, whistleblowers, name it. He steered the show for more than 20 years.
Like Mr Nsereko, Mr Sackur was popular, and many BBC viewers and listeners (including me) thought he was a permanent fixture. Then the BBC started getting rid of middle-aged journalists, and it threw him out.
Mr Nsereko has to work tremendously hard if he is to retain the popularity and relevance he has had at CBS. The world is moving very fast, and people forget easily. Soon he will realise that many people who phoned him were mainly interested in what he brings to the table: his microphone.
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Now that he is out, the calls will become fewer. The invitations to events like dinners, cocktail parties will start to disappear slowly but steadily.
He can lean on his podcast, The Meddie Nsereko Show. But many employees who have built their names on the strength of their employers’ brands quickly realise that transferring that influence to a personal venture is difficult.
Quick example: Last September, Flavia Tumusiime, who had worked for Capital FM and NTV as a presenter, announced she was switching careers. She tried to work as a corporate master of ceremonies, event host, etc. Things did not work out. This past April, she was back to NTV.
For Mr Nsereko, who is in his 60s, age will add another layer of complexity. Starting afresh requires patience, energy and the willingness to take instructions again, sometimes from younger colleagues. That last part, more than anything else, may be his biggest test.
🔴 Musaazi Namiti is the Founder and Editorial Director of OJ-UGANDA. He previously led the Africa Desk at Al Jazeera in Doha, Qatar, worked for Globe Media Asia in Cambodia and writes a widely read column for Uganda’s Sunday Monitor. His work has been quoted by The New York Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Jeune Afrique, The Africa Report—not for playing it safe, but for saying what others will not.
Email: musaazinamiti@ojuganda.com
X: @kazbuk