Meet Julius Owino aka Maji Maji the Man Responsible for Mbusi Leaving Ghetto Radio and the Overall Downfall of the Once Popular Ghetto Radio. He Runs the Station with an Iron Rod and we have the Details……

The year was 2002 and two young lads, Julius Owino and Joseph Oyoo going by the name Gidigidi MajiMaji after working hard in the studio dropped a jam, Unbwogable with little knowledge what precedent they were just about to set. A few months later, the song had become a national anthem blowing up the airwaves and filling up the playlists of many DJ sets across the country.  It even went ahead to become the basis of the liberation campaign from Kanu’s 24 year rule.

The duo became an instant hit but as the saying goes, what begins must always come to an end. Eventually the light stopped shining on Gidigidi Majimaji as new cats entered the game and a few releases soon after was not enough to keep them on the map.

First forward a few years and the two are still reigning high with Gidi Gidi now popularly known as Ogidi hosting the morning show on Radio Jambo where he has cut out a niche for himself. His counterpart Maji is also a morning host on Ghetto Radio where he has been for the last couple of years and where as we came to find out has done nothing but reign havoc, cause destruction and in the process make lives of Ghetto radio employees a living hell. That is what we want to peruse today.

As a close source confessed, Julius Owino is killing Ghetto and he’s pretty determined to make sure everyone goes down with him. However, that has not always been the case. Maji’s as he’s popularly known in the media circles road to obliteration only started in 2013 after the conclusion of general elections that saw Uhuru Kenyatta and his counterpart Ruto take over the reins of power.

As it’s synonymous with campaigns, money and lots of it is always flying around and somehow it found its way into Ghetto radio’s doorstep where the station managed to scoop a whooping 9 million. For Maji who was in the heart of operations at the time, this was like manna from heaven; he had clearly never fathomed that amount of cash in his lifetime. Actually it had all been a pipe dream for him and somehow after getting his share which was quite substantial, life for him took a different turn.

His agenda ceased from elevating ghetto chaps and creating a positive impact in society to plainly minting as much money as he can. The first step he took was attempt to constitute power so he approached the 3 directors at the time who were Dutch and asked for shares in the business. Of course they said no because apparently they felt it wasn’t time just yet. They didn’t feel like he had put enough work to be accorded such a fete.

Hungry for power, and wealth, and status, Maji couldn’t take it and according to our source, he started devising ways to sabotage the situation so that he can get his way. One of the ways he did that was try tamper with the frequency which is given by KBC. He did this by using the connections he had accumulated throughout his musical career. Unfortunately that hit a gridlock.

The directors however got wind of his intentions in due time and introduced a new twist into the situation, they introduced a HR manager into the equation who was meant to oversee operations and generally be the manager. This was a big slap to Maji who was now curtailed, his powers stripped off him in a whisker.

He couldn’t take it and he turned to alcohol due to the frustrations brought about by one Linda who was appointed the HR manager. Maji is not one to give up so soon enough he was on the grind again, spending sleepless nights plotting and conniving and soon enough this all bore fruit. He identified a loop hole in the business side of the station which he exploited to the maximum. Being the most connected person in Ghetto, he defused a way to cut off any business getting to the station something which eventually brought it to its knees. Money was not coming in at all and now even day to day operations were becoming difficult to manage. Salaries were delaying and foul mood was engulfing the station. Things were going haywire as he anticipated so being the smart chap he is, he approached one of the directors he was close to and threw in a petition he was the most suitable person to run the station.

At that particular point in time, things were thick and definitely options were very limited. He got his way, Linda was demoted and Maji again was restored as the overall boss; this time as the managing director the most powerful position at Ghetto.

There he could have his cake and eat it and his first move was to switch up ownership of the station from This is Africa an NGO body to Ghetto Radio limited a fully fletched limited company; he was in business!

According to our source, his efforts were concentrated in the marketing department which handles the business side of the station. There he assumed total control cutting deals and driving his colleagues to acquire as much business as they could. Funny enough this money never ended up in the company’s coffers, at least most of it but in Maji’s pockets. In just a few months, word started gong round that Maji had constructed a mansion in gated estate in Ruai and he had bought his brand spanking new Subaru.

Things were looking up and now Maji would have the last laugh, he would be the envy of his friends and he would be accepted as an equal to his former friend Ogidi. As our source explained to us, Maji has always been jealous of Ogidi’s success in radio.

The more money he minted from the station, then the more extavagant and greedy he became and he started toying with the idea of exploiting and getting money from his employees. At the time the stations superstar and cash cow was Mbusi.  Mbusi alongside co host Bonoko hosted Goteana which was the most popular evening driving show at the time. It was what Maina and King’ang’I is in the morning and it was destined for greater heights. Not only did it attract a shit load of advertising but it also hosted reggae gigs across town. The most popular one was reggae Tuesdays at Tribeka in the CBD, hosted by Mbusi and powered by Ghetto Radio.

Due to its massive success, Mbusi was approached by the owners of I-club which had rebranded and which was keen to cut out its own niche to replicate the same show there. He agreed but this time he decided to use his company called Mbrrrcha entertainment which he co owns with his longtime friend and colleague Moha. They did their thing and soon enough it became an instant hit something Maji was not very happy about.

So when it came to payments, he intervened and demanded that all the payments go to Ghetto radio because it did most of the promotion and orchestrators were employees of the station. A major disagreement ensued, the show came to a halt and payments were stopped. After months of push and pull, Mbusi and partner concluded it was not worth it so they decided to split their profits with the now egocentric Owino. As I came to learn, those profits never left the club as they were spent on bottles upon bottles of Jameson and a bevy of Nairobi socialites who provided comfort until the wee hours of the morning.

For Mbusi and Co., this was an eye opener that their employer didn’t have their best interests at hand. And if they couldn’t make money out of side hustles, then it was only fair that the company compensates them accordingly. Mbusi specifically asked for a raise, he wanted to be paid 150 K a month and he also wanted a car. Pretty much fair considering the lad had really put Ghetto radio on the map and he had transmogrified into a superstar himself.

Seeing it as an avenue for money to leave his pockets, of course Maji turned down his demands and unfortunately Shaffie, Radio Africa’s hench man was there eagerly waiting. He recognized Mbusi’s talent so he offered him a deal and after much coercing, Mbusi was shipped off to Radio Jambo where he has one of the most popular evening drive shows at the moment.

After Mbusi left, life in Ghetto took a different turn. Money stopped coming in completely and the situation was slowly turning grotesque. For Maji however, he still had to eat so his focus turned into Ghetto radio DJ’s who were slowly gaining popularity across the board. This obviously turned into shows here and there and this soon become an avenue for Maji to eat. Since they were using Ghetto as a platform to promote these shows, Maji started demanding a cut from their hustles and failure to do so would lead to termination of their contracts. Those who couldn’t toe the line opted out and one of them was none other but DJ Whizzy who expressed his disappointment in a long post on Facebook……

Here:

All this of course wasn’t going unnoticed and fellow employees started raising concerns as to how the station was being run. Their lives were being toyed with and the work place was slowly becoming a hell hole. They aired there disgruntles in guarded whispers lest Maji found out and you would be chased out like a dog. Like I said he’s smart and soon enough he got wind of the situation on the ground. Guys were not happy and they wanted him out. Like this particular lady who sought anonymity:

Sales people were sick and tired of him taking their commissions, DJ’s were getting disgusted that their hard earned money was being taken away and everyone else in the company was being put in a comprising situation.  I specifically feel pity of one King Cafu who had managed to secure a column on the Nairobian about Sheng and to which the proceeds never got to him, they always ended in Maji’s pockets. What he probably got was an occasional 2k when Maji was feeling philanthropic.

As we speak now, things have just gotten complicated and are heading to the dogs. Maji has himself gotten totally insecure seeking to take over control of everything. As we got from our source, Maji is currently the station manager, marketing manager, social media manager, editor, head producer and head presenter. And if you have any ideas to better it, shove it up your ass is always his policy and if you can’t conform, the door is always open for you to leave. That is why Ghetto radio employees don’t have working contracts and ID’s.

Who will save this suffering lot surely? Someone, anyone?

We reached out to Maji who was held a contrary to all the allegations. As a matter of fact; he also had a detailed outline about everything we highlighted in the story. On matters to do with him minting money from the company, he was shocked that someone would hold him in such regard. According to him, he’s a trustworthy employee who only takes what rightfully belongs to him.

He also denied taking anything from his employees insisting that he was very much keen on the growth of his employees. Actually he termed Ghetto as a very ideal work place to start off your career. And on issues of laying off employees which didn’t abide by his rules, then he could only term it as unfortunate. According to him, the company had to do a restructuring which was done in the most professional way possible.

On asking why there so many complaints against him, he was of the opinion that it’s because he was a manager who most of the time don’t get as much love due to their hard decisions.

Whether he’s the telling the truth or not we don’t know. All we know is that Ghetto radio employees are in a lot of quagmire and they need someone to save them.