Friday, February 24, 2023 – Veteran media personality Sheila Mwanyigha has opened up on how she was once sexually harassed by an unnamed colleague at a former place of work.
The talented singer turned media personality made the revelation while reacting to a BBC documentary dubbed ‘Sex for Work’ which brought to light several cases of sexual harassment of employees and job seekers in Tea plantations in Kericho county.
In the harrowing documentary, more than 70 women narrated how they were sexually abused and raped by men in managerial positions at the British-owned Unilever and James Finlays tea companies in Kericho.
While praying for the victims to get justice, the Niwe wako milele singer opened up on how she was once sexually harassed at an undisclosed media house by a former colleague.
“This documentary has opened up a lot of feelings in my heart and I sympathize with these women.
“I don’t even know where you can go and get justice for them, and how that justice is going to look like but I think back to even joining the media and the stories that I heard about certain groups I worked with and particular individuals within these groups,” she said.
In the same breath, she paid tribute to a former boss who deliberately shielded her from uncouth colleagues who were up to no good.
She added, “There is one boss that I will forever respect and completely admire and love for all of my life because when I joined his station, he took me under his wing and literally hid me away from sight, away from everybody because he said ‘because of who you are, this predator is going to see you and make your life extremely difficult so I do not want to see you chilling at the water fountain getting water and hanging out with colleagues or at the printing machine high fiving colleagues’. He made sure I never did any of that or being in corridors catching up with friends. Nope, if I was not in the studio, I was in the prep room preparing for my show,”
The mellow-voiced media personality worked for numerous media houses including, Kiss FM (Radio Africa Group), NTV’s AM Live and a mid-day presenter on Easy FM (later renamed Nation FM), which is also owned by Nation Media Group and Ebru TV,
Nikki, as she is known by her stage name, also served as a co-host of the Tusker Project Fame reality show.
It remains to be seen if more victims of sexual harassment in places of work especially newsrooms will gather courage and shame these uncouth predators.
The Kenyan DAILY POST.