Did CBS pay sports reporter Yusuf Baliruno of Uganda or did it not?
A story about a CBS sports reporter has been kicking around social media. The reporter, a diminutive man who calls himself Yusuf Baliruno of Uganda—I do not know if there is a Baliruno of Pakistan or Tajikistan—is well known and popular among CBS listeners.
Mr Baliruno has been trying to draw his plight to the attention of the public and recorded a video, detailing how his employer of 20 years has been unfair to him.
He says he has not been paid for the two decades that he has spent toiling for the broadcaster. But that is hard to believe because it raises questions about how he has been supporting himself without a pay cheque for 20 years.
Many would even ask whether it made sense for him to continue working when he knew full well that he would not be paid.
I tried to reach out to Mr Baliruno, but he was a bit cagey, saying that the matter is already in the hands of courts.
Meanwhile, CBS released a statement on June 16 that refuted everything Mr Baliruno has been saying on social media.
The problem with the CBS statement is that it does not say that the radio station has proof of paying the reporter—it simply says that the reporter was paid. That may be true or may not.
I took interest in Mr Baliruno’s story because one has to be a shameless crook and a world-class liar to go to social media and say they have not been paid when the employer has proof that they were paid. Many employers keep records of how everyone they employ is paid—and how much they get paid.
Why Mr Baliruno would insist he has not been paid when he has been paid is hard to understand.
There is, so far, nothing to suggest that his story is true. But if it is, it speaks to a serious problem in Uganda.
It is hypocritical of us to blame political leaders for corruption and failure to pay civil servants when we refuse to pay people we employ and when we pay those people starvation wages.
When you do not pay workers, you inflict emotional, financial and psychological damage onto them.
As all people who think for themselves know, the principal reason people who are not volunteers or interns go to work is to earn salaries and pay bills.
If people are going to tell you they work mainly because they love their job, just ask them if they can continue working without pay. Or tell those who have been laid off to continue working without pay and see if they will turn up.
Mr Baliruno’s story reminded me of my brief time at CBS in the late 1990s, and this not to say that CBS is guilty.
In 1998, I did some work for Njuba Times, a bi-lingual newspaper that the Buganda Kingdom had launched to complement CBS, but which sadly folded years later.
But for me to get paid for my (forgettable) articles, I had to threaten not to leave the office of a gentleman who is now one of the top managers at CBS.
Some Ugandan employers, it seems to me, have no sense of shame. In 1994, I worked for Daily Topic (defunct), and I was not paid. Many others, including prominent Kampala journalists, were not.
Yet the paper’s publishers—who knew our plight very well—were Kintu Musoke, Bidandi Ssali and Kirunda Kivejinja. And they are some of Uganda’s most respected people!
Mr Namiti is a journalist and former Al Jazeera digital editor in charge of the Africa desk
[email protected] @kazbuk
