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Rachael Akidi, BBC’s East Africa boss, quits


Rachael Akidi, the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) East Africa boss, has quit.

In a Facebook post, Ms Akidi said this is her last week as head of the BBC in the region before moving on to other things.

“This week marks the end of my time as the BBC’s Head of East Africa. It has been an incredible five and a half years – overseeing BBC News operations across six multimedia language services in the East and Horn of Africa region,” she said.

It is worth noting that it was under Ms Akidi’s leadership that the BBC opened a fully operational bureau in Nairobi, Kenya.

Also read: Why Ferdinand Omondi quit the BBC

She said that during her time as head, they expanded, created, innovated, experimented, took risks and, through the way they told stories, captured some incredible moments in African history.

“We also brought African perspectives to the global challenges and stories of our time,” said Ms Akidi.

Ms Akidi has worked for the BBC for 21 years and says she has loved every bit of it since she boarded a flight from Uganda to London as a fresh graduate to join the BBC Focus on Africa and Network Africa programmes.

On her way to London, Ms Akidi said she was only 22 years old and never imagined that she would hold every editorial role in the newsroom, from producer, presenter, reporter to editor, senior news editor and head of journalism, among others.

She said that one day she would write a book detailing her transformational journey as a journalist.

“For now, I would like to thank all my teams, colleagues and my personal board of directors who have supported me along the way. And thanks to my teams in Nairobi – for the series of beautiful farewell events. I am forever grateful,” she said.

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