June 29, 2009 Reginald Mengi Chairman IPP Limited Dar es Salaam. Dear Mr. Mengi RE: NOTICE OF RESIGNATION May I first take this opportunity to thank you for appointing me for a period of just ‘over one year to serve IPP Media as the Group Editorial Director ~ Print Media. This has been for me a challenging time when I was able to learn a lot of new things while at the same time, achieve a lot of personal satisfaction given what I was able to achieve in a short period of time. Please recall that soon after my appointment on April 7, 2008 I was immediately immersed into planning the IPP Media’s role in the Leon H. Sullivan Summit that took place in Arusha last year. During that period, I was able to produce a souvenir magazine as well as co-ordinate the coverage of the events from Arusha. Upon my taking over The Guardian Ltd newspapers, | embarked on a move to recruit, highly skilled personnel, whose presence has given a great boost to The Guardian newspapers. 1 ed the Nipashe team for the re-launch of the paper that enjoys great respect in the market today. When I moved to The Guardian Limited, the print order for Nipashe was 19, 000 copies and the content was extremely poor and unprofessional. The layout was an absolute eyesore. As I leave, the Nipashe print order has stabilised to between 28, 000 to 30, 000 copies an increase of 35%. Similarly, the Guardian newspaper saw a re-vamp of its editorial team that today runs, the paper more professionally than was the case before. Although the newspaper has, not reached where I wanted to see it after the re-launch that was to happen later this year, the content has definitely improved and readers today are more appreciative of the changes introduced May I point out at this stage that when I arrived at The Guardian Ltd, the newsroom ‘was in a dilapidated stage, both physically and emotionally. I personally oversaw the re-vamping of the newsroom environment with great support from you yourself and, today the newstoom not only enjoys a modern and professional atmosphere, but the staff there enjoy adequate working tools, a conducive atmosphere and high spirits. There were no editorial meetings being held when | arrived and no clear systems of monitoring staff performance. However as I leave today, all the newspapers hold themorning and evening editorial meetings, this is in additions to the noon meetings I used to hold with Managing Editors. ‘The Guardian on Sunday has also seen significant and positive changes under my leadership earning respect as well as sales in the market. As I leave, the dummy for the re-launch of the Alasiri newspaper that was prepared under my direction is also ready During this period, I was also able to guide the media policy update and prepare the Editorial Guidelines document that is with all the editors. On the management side, there were no Management Meetings being held as 1 ‘embarked on my career at The Guardian Ltd. There were informal and widely spaced ut contacts between the directors. I initiated weekly Management Meetings for which I was the secretary. At these meetings, I raised many questions about the viability of the business such as taking a strong stand against the open theft of newspapers and the high price of newsprint the company was paying. Having been part of Mwananchi ‘Communications Ltd’s management team, I was quickly suspicious of the resource procurement and spending and following those discussions, the management has today come up with the financial recovery plan for the unprofitable The Guardian Ltd. To give the management better direction, | organised two high level trainings. The first training was organised free of charge on a management component called ‘Speed’, whose aim was to shake off lethargy that existed. The whole management team as well as all Managing Editors attended the course. also arranged to have the internationally acclaimed Newspaper Management trainer, ‘Tatiana Repkova from Paris to come in and conduct a weeklong course on Newspaper Management, Again the whole management team as well as all Managing Editors attended the sessions. ‘Throughout the year of my stay at IPP, I have participated in numerous media events, which have also helped promote IPP Media positively. All in all, I count my time at IPP as a busy but personally satisfying period when ‘was able to achieve all these rewards. And although I was bubbling with many more plans to totally revamp, modemise and develop further the newspapers of The Guardian Ltd, and assist in the financial recovery plan too, unfortunately our different viewpoint on handling editorial content as the time moved on, put us on a collision path. I was well aware of the fact that you were not happy with my decision to refuse to take under my wing the two new trashy newspapers that The Guardian Ltd launched ~ Sema Usikike and Taifa LevuAlthough you initially agreed with me that IPP Print Media should stick to quality editorial coverage, and hence your approval to my proposal to close down the Acha Umbeya newspaper soon after my entry, you obviously changed your mind later. ‘And when I brought to your attention that these two new newspapers would erode our credibility at The Guardian Ltd, you told me they would not be launched as The Guardian Ltd products, but instead be launched under a separate company which would be overseen by Mr. Kiondo Mshana. You confessed at that point that Mshana had failed at The Guardian as MD and that was the reason you had introduced directors so as to curtail his authority ctor of Finance who reported directly to Group Finance Director oversees finance and administration, Director of Business oversees advertising and marketing, the Director of Circulation controls sales and distribution while I had full authority over the editorial content, All three of us reported to you directly. Since Mshana had no job to do, you asked me to support the move to introduce these papers, which he would run under a separate company. But to my surprise and constant reminders to you, the papers were launched and are to date run under the banner of The Guardian Ltd. ‘Not wanting my credibility to suffer given the unethical and biased reporting of these new newspapers, I refused to recognise and in any way have anything to do with them, a decision I know you were not happy about. Talso am well aware of the fact that you didn’t like my constant refusal to publish front-page editorials attacking certain personalities or refusing intervention of the MD in editorial matters. The only reason I could not compromise on these matters, Mr Chairman, was because they contravened professional ethics and we had an agreement right from the start that I would be accorded full editorial independence to run the newspapers as per professional guidelines. However, it was the reporting of the Palestinian issue that finally brought the final rift between us as result of which you decided to demote me. Hosting the Palestinian Ambassador at my office was nothing extraordinary. The culture of different ambassadors visiting The Guardian newsroom was there even before I arrived. This is a common practice worldwide and hence I didn’t see a problem with welcoming the foreign diplomats when they requested to visit. The Palestinian Ambassador in fact didn’t even have an appointment and called to say he was on his way to visit us. When he arrived, as per the norm, pictures were taken and he then requested that we publish a commentary written by him. This again is acceptable since we offer space not only to ambassadors, but also to any person with concrete piece of write-up to express their views as opinion under their name. ‘The next day the piece appeared in The Guardian newspapers and my picture with hhim was published without even editors having consulted with me over the pictures.