By Prudence Minayo
Mbusii is a popular radio show presenter with a great passion for reggae music. Not the typical radio presenter with a heavy borrowed American accent, Mbusii has managed to appeal to a large number of listeners, especially the youth, and this can be attributed to his use of sheng language-a popular urban slang language in Kenya.
Life is a journey full of bumps and sharp corners and sometimes it takes a lot of hardwork and pain to get to a comfortable place in life as this particular radio presenter can attest to. Mbusii was not born with a silver spoon and had to struggle to make ends meet. Here is the story of the one for the highest paid radio presenters in Kenya.
Age
Mbusii is currently in his thirties.
Real Name
The frail looking reggae ambassador real name is Daniel Githinji Mwangi and is originally from Nyeri but lived in Korogocho slums.
Education
He attended Eastleigh Airport Primary School and went to Maina Wanjigi High School.
Family
The Radio Jambo employee is married with two children (girls). Her wife is known on social media as mama Stacy. Mbusii has credited his success to the unwavering support of his wife.
Background and Career
Before his big break on radio, Mbusii sold soup in the slums of Korogocho before he took a gamble and joined the Kenya National Theatre (KNT) to try his luck in acting. He got several roles on set book plays.
The presenter joined the TV scene when Crazy Kenyans began to air. He acted together with Cheiph and Mshamba but got disappointed when his ideas were shot down only for them to be replicated by other actors. He called it quits in 2005 and went back to KNT.
A drug peddler
In a past interview, he revealed that he started selling drugs to meet his daily needs. The presenter told SDE lifestyle that he had no option but to deal in drugs to support his pregnant and feed their daughter who had just joined school. Kes1,500 Rent for their mabati house in Korogocho slums had to be paid too.
The radio presenter would play an aspiring actor at the national theatre to conceal the fact that he a peddler looking for marijuana client until unexpectedly an opportunity presented itself.
“ One of the former presenters known as ‘Roba’ came to the theatre looking for comedians. He was referred to this Githis (my nickname) but like Simon Peter from the Bible, I denied that I was the one; three times. I thought he was a policeman and perhaps knew what I was up to. It was not until he came with recorders that I finally agreed to talk to him. He took me to the Ghetto Radio and gave me a job as a messenger and traffic update voice artiste. My salary was sh3,000,” revealed Mbusii to the Nairobian
The salary was still too little, hence, he continued with his drug selling side job. His fortune changed when a new manager called Maji Maji entered the station. He was impressed with Mbusii’s voice during the traffic update and asked him to try out as a host.
Career
Githinji started hosting the reggae show “Goteana” on Ghetto Radio alongside Bonoko, a former street kid who rose to fame due to his eye witness account of a shoot out between the police and thugs.
The stars aligned in his favor when a more lucrative position came knocking on his door. This saw him exit Ghetto Radio for Radio Jambo which has a large audience compared to Ghetto Radio. He hosts a reggae show alongside LionDee which has quite a huge audience tuning in. Online reports claim that his salary at the station is 600k or more but he thrashed those rumors in an interview with str8up Liv. He said those were just media stories.
Head of State Commendation award
His crowning moment came in 2017 when he was among the 59 exemplary civilians who received the Head of State Commendation award on Mashujaa Day celebration. He had the rare opportunity of meeting President Uhuru Kenyatta and interacting with him at State House. He had this to say of the award and meeting the Head of State:
“Kwanza nafeel nikiwa Irie kwa mawingu ya juu kabisa!”
“I didn’t expect the special recognition because I did not have any idea there was such a list. Funny thing, I actually never made an appearance either at Kasarani Stadium or State House,” he told Radio Jambo.
He went on to say that he received the award “because I have never changed ever since I started off. I am still humble and more so, I deal with youths from humble beginnings.
“The youths know that I advocate for their rights and speak on their behalf, and when the President noticed that, he honoured me as the youth ambassador.”
The radio presenter admitted that this commendation would open doors for him as corporates would take him seriously:
“Ku meet Orezo wa Kenya sio kitu ya mchezo. Watu wengi sana wanatamani lakini kumfikia huwa ngumu. So hii mwaka favour ya Sir Jah imekuwa excess kwangu, na nahope 2018 hiyo ndio itakuwa sasa ya kuomoka ile viserious!” Next
