The Citizen (Tanzania)

Mwananchi Communications Ltd is a company based in Tanzania. Mwananchi Communications Ltd, engages in the print media and radio, and is the publisher of Tanzania's leading daily newspaper, Mwananchi (in Swahili), and others such as The Citizen, Sunday Citizen, Mwananchi Jumapili, and Mwanaspoti.

The executive editor is Bakari Steven Machumu and the Mwananchi daily managing editor is Frank Sanga. Abdul Mohamed heads Mwanaspoti in Tanzania and Kenya. Sanga is regarded as the sports journalism guru in the region. His influence in sports led Kenyan media to start sports newspapers, such as Sports On and Game Yetu.Thomas Mosoba is the managing editor of The Citizen Daily, which has contributed much to socio-economic changes in Tanzania and in the region as well.

The company was established in May 1999 by Ambassador Ferdinand Ruhinda as Media Communications Ltd. But in April 2001, a new business was established (Advertising Agency & Public Relations) and a new company was formed—Mwananchi Communications Ltd. In the very same year Mwananchi Communications Ltd was acquired by the Nation Media Group (NMG), which is based in Nairobi, Kenya.

It is headquartered at Plot No. 34/35 Tabata Relini on Mandela Road, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It is part of the Nation Media Group, a publicly listed company, quoted on the , and has about 7,500 shareholders. Its principal shareholder is the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network.

The history of Mwananchi Communications Ltd. can be traced back to 1999 when Hon. Ferdinand Ruhinda started a communications company known as Media Communications Ltd, which saw an important need to introduce a daily Swahili paper (Mwananchi) registered on April 20, 2000. On May 27, 2000, the first copy of Mwananchi was launched. It was a 12-page newspaper retailing at Sh150. The market at the time was not as fragmented as it is now, as there were only three mainstream daily Swahili newspapers in the market as opposed to the eight mainstream daily Swahili papers today. This paper has since had continuous improvement for format and presentation that has seen its leadership position in the market sustained.

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