Observer Newspaper MD, James Tumusiime Resigns

One of the founding members of weekly newspaper, ‘The Observer’, James Tumusiime has resigned from his position as the Managing Director.

Tumusiime, 45, who cofounded the newspaper with Kevin Ogen Aliro (the late) has left the paper which he has presided over for the last 12 years. He cited his health and his need to pursue other roles in the academia as the reasons for his unprecedented decision.

This is contained in a letter he reportedly wrote to the Management of The Observer on Wednesday this week. It was however today that he broke the news to the other staffers.

“When we started, there were 10 shareholders who were also employed by the newspaper. Over the years we have demonstrated that this newspaper is bigger than individuals, as many moved on [two passed away] and that time has come for me,” JT as Tumusiime is commonly known, is quoted by the Observer as having said to the staffers of the media outlet on Friday.

JT has struggled for a decade 10-year struggle with debilitating migraine headaches and inflamed sinuses.

He recently took a two-month sick leave for proper treatment, but his doctor recommended he should not continue in the stressful newsroom environment, said the Observer.

The Finance Director, Mr Pius Mutekani Katunzi has henceforth taken over the position of Managing Director in acting capacity.

The Observer newspaper was founded in 2004 and its readership has since steadily grown.

Tumusiime will be praised for presiding over the newspaper and leading it to become one of the trusted and analytical sources of political news. In 2013, under his leadership, the newspaper which since its launch came out once a week, decided to scale up so as to make tri-weekly news publications.

This was sustained for four years until last year in October when the Observer reverted to a weekly newspaper largely due to financial constraints that print media in general is grappling with.