Salim Swaleh has steadily risen through careers with his recent being the director of press at the Office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary and Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs (OPCS-MFDA) Musalia Mudavadi.
Prior to this, Salim served the Nation Media Group owned NTV as a Swahili news anchor until his appointment.
Salim Swaleh was born and raised in Bondeni area of Nakuru County. His late father who was from Bondeni and mother from Gilgil only had two kids including Salim and his sister.
In a past interview, he narrated that he was raised in a polygamous family, however, his father left when he was about 10 years old.
He also stated that he was raised by the community where everyone knew each other as his mother also relocated to start a new life in a different place.
“We grew up in Bondeni with my brothers but by bad luck my father left us when we were young, I think I was 10 years and our mother relocated to a different place to start a new life, so I was raised by the community,” he said.
Education and Background
Salim attended Bondeni Primary School until class four, however, he was unable to complete his education due to financial constraints.
He then relocated to live with his grandmother in Gilgil. While living with his grandmother, he learned to make and sell various snacks, including samosas.
Later, he moved in with his mother and stepfather and was enrolled in Nakuru Primary School where he completed his primary education attaining 365 marks in KCPE.
He was also an ardent participant in extracurricular activities thriving in drama and music festivals.
Salim loved public speaking and went up to the national levels due to his skills, something that would later on nurture his desire to pursue journalism.
Also Read: Salim Swaleh Among Top Govt Officials Arrested at Mudavadi’s Office
Swaleh’s dream of becoming a journalist intensified when he got the opportunity to work with KBC eLearning while still at Menengai high school.
The former Citizen TV journalist attained grade C plus in his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education. Upon completion of his O levels, he worked as an untrained primary school teacher in Eldoret while waiting for admission to college.
Higher Education and Career
Swaleh joined a college in Nakuru where he studied Mass Communication and enrolled for a degree in the same field.
Upon completing college, Salim worked at a community radio in Majengo, Nairobi known as Ghetto FM without pay before relocating back to Nakuru and getting his first job as a journalist Sauti ya Mwananchi radio.
According to Salim, his breakthrough came when he got the opportunity to work at the radio station where he earned Ksh8,000 monthly.
This opportunity he acknowledges didn’t pay much but gave him a platform to grow his career.
At Sauti ya Mwananchi radio, he recalled tapping into his comic side while playing the role of a primitive Somali guy known as Waria Galgalo while reporting alongside his cohost Njoroge Ng’ang’a.
Also Read: Profile of Olive Burrows:1st Kenyan Journalist to Interview Barrack Obama
Life in Iran
At the station, he and his cohost Njoroge had the opportunity to travel to Iran, after Njoroge met up with Mohammed Baraza Nalwa who was the boss of an international Kiswahili radio station in then Islamic country.
While at Iran he learnt and familiarized himself with the Persian language which is majorly used in the country.
Additionally, he got the chance to polish his skills as a media journalist and even enrolled for a degree in the country, where he furthered his career in media.
Back To Kenya
Upon returning to Kenya, Salim secured a job with Citizen TV in 2016. He took on the role of presenting the 7 PM Nipashe Jumapili news, which was previously read by Kanze Dena and Lulu Hassan.
He did an excellent job and resigned after two years to join NTV where he progressed to become an editor and news anchor for the NTV 7 PM Swahili news.
However, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi recognized his talent and appointed him as the head of communications in his office.
The ex-NTV anchor is married to an Iranian woman named Sherry whom he met while working for the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).
Swaleh and his wife are blessed with three children.
Fraud Allegations
However, Salim Swaleh was arrested among other government officials working at the office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi on June 22,2024.
According to Mudavadi’s office the media personality alongside his colleagues were apprehended over allegations of aiding fraud at the offices located at Kenya Railways building.
The arrests came after security personnel acted on a tipoff and thereafter mounted intense surveillance at the Railways Office to disrupt the reported nefarious acts of impersonation and misuse of the facility by the fraudsters.
“Those arrested include Salim Swaleh, Director of OPCS Press Service, in whose office the swindlers were found nested with fake door switch-nametags,” the statement by the office of the PCS read in part.
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