Veteran journalist, Simon Muyanga Lutaaya, has rejoined Next Media where he will be hosting a business show on Sanyuka TV. The show, Business Class, will air every Sunday at 6PM.
We understand he will not be a full-time employee but some sort of “business partner.”
Sources told us that the show is Muyanga’s brain child. We have been told that he developed the concept but lacked funding and a bigger platform. He had tried vending the show to various TVs without success. That is until he met the Next Media team.
Muyanga will be charged with creating content for the show while Next Media will meet the production costs.
Advertising revenue from the show will be split between Muyanga and Next Media, we have been told.
Muyanga told Bbeg Media that he had signed a good deal with Next Media.
“What I signed is a nice deal for me and the station. I need that presence on air for the market,” he said.
News of Muyanga’s return to Next Media was received with mixed reactions from his followers on X (formerly twitter).
Some congratulated him, others said the move was not wise for someone in his mid-40s.
The show marks Muyanga’s return to an organization which nurtured him and where he thrived first as a news manager and as host of ‘One on One’ show with the controversial Tamale Mirundi.
Muyanga left Next Media in 2019 in a huff after management declined to increase his salary. In a long post on his Facebook page, he thanked the company for giving him the opportunity to grow as a journalist but he also pointed out that at some point during his time at Next Media he had been shabbily treated.
For instance, when he was sacked as News Manager at NBS in 2014, he claimed his desk had been moved from the newsroom into the corridor. But Muyanga told us he has no bad memories of his time at NBS.
He briefly worked at Smart 24 in 2019, as a consultant before joining Baba TV where he brought to life their early morning show, “Gangamuka.”
He left Baba TV last year in a cloud of controversy after declining the post of General Manager.
Yet those who have worked with Muyanga agree that he is innovative and creative. He is also good at mentoring young people and many journalists at NBS can attest to this.
Muyanga currently runs a YouTube channel and a news website (smlnews.ug). We don’t know what is going to happen to these platforms with his new deal.
One of the people who worked with Muyanga said while he is creative, “he lacks self-belief that he can start, build and grow a venture by himself.”