Nairobi News

Renowned NTV Swahili prime-time news anchor Fridah Mwaka would have never imagined, even in her wildest dreams, that she would be the awardee of the Outstanding Female News Anchor of the Year at this year’s Ladies in Media Awards.

So stamped was the belief that she did the bare minimum in asking fans and followers to vote for her as the competition drew close.

Though she got the notification early, Fridah never believed she would be jetting out of Ghana with the award.

Speaking exclusively with Nairobi News, Fridah reveals that while at the Pwani Golden Awards last year, she stumbled on an email saying that she had been nominated for a competition in Ghana celebrating media women in Africa.

“At first I did not put much thought into it thinking that it was just some city scammers who were deceiving me so I ignored and it became yesterday’s news to me,” she says.

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After a while, the organisers of the awarding ceremony reached out to Fridah. They affirmed to her that they were legit and detailed reasons for why she had been nominated and the voting process.

This, however, did not still move her. Since she had revealed the awards to her co-anchor and boss, Lofty Matambo, he questioned why she had not announced the competition to Kenyans and even requested them to vote for her.

In response, Fridah told him she still felt she would not win.

“Ghanaians themselves had slotted two of their own in the category plus there was a Nigerian. I felt I stood no chance,” she reveals.

Lofty called her out and encouraged her to post about the competition on her socials and even have it televised at the last minute, days before the closure of the voting.

“So many Kenyans responded to the call promising to vote for me which was very heart-warming,” she notes.

Done with that and now out of her mind, Fridah shares that, coincidentally, she had received an invitation to Media Summit in Ghana, an event celebrating media women.

While there, Fridah was notified that she had won the Outstanding Female News Anchor Award.

“That is the day I cried the most ever in my life. I recalled the young lady who had just a dream to be a journalist being feted in Africa, I was beyond words.”

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