Former Prime Minister’s Office press director Salim Swaleh is now apologizing.
An emotional Swaleh said he had broken an incomparable trust built over the years and was sorry.
“Your Excellency, you have been my father figure for the longest time that I have known you. We have built an unparalleled trust between us and for the last year and a half I have served you, exercised your good offices and served you with zeal peerless “I betrayed trust and I’m really sorry.” I’m really sorry,” he said in a video.
Swaleh said that the past few months have been difficult for him and he has not even been able to leave the house.
He said it was because of the publicity he received and that he had even thought about suicide.
*Course and training*
Salim Swaleh was born in Bondeni, Nakuru County. His late father and late mother were from Bondeni and Gilgil respectively.
His father had three wives and Salim’s mother had two children, Salim and his sister.
Salim attended Bondeni Primary School till the fourth class but had to drop out due to financial constraints.
He then moved to Gilgil to live with his grandmother, where he learned how to prepare and sell various foods. He then returned to Nakuru to live with his mother and father, re-entered school and went straight to class 7. After completing KCPE, he scored 365 and was admitted to Menengai High School.
His passion for journalism developed when he had the opportunity to work with KBC E-learning while still in Menengai.
Salim achieved a C+ in KCSE and worked as an unqualified primary school teacher in Eldoret while waiting for university entrance.
He eventually signed up for a degree in mass communications while working in Iran.
*Career*
After university, Salim worked at Ghetto Radio for free, before landing his first paid journalism job at Sauti ya Mwananchi in Nakuru, earning KSh 8,000 a month. While working at the station, he traveled to Iran to pursue his media career. After returning to Kenya, he joined Citizen TV in 2016 where he excelled for two years before joining NTV.
In NTV, he became editor and news presenter for the 19:00 news.
After leaving NTV, he secured a position as Director of the OPCS press service in the Office of the First Cabinet Secretary and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora.
*The family*
Salim is married to Sherry and the couple has children. He met and married Sherry while working for the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
Marrying an Iranian woman was not an option for Salim because of cultural differences and the high dowry paid in gold.
Instead, he returned to Kenya, married Sherry and later settled in Iran, where two of his children were born before returning to Kenya.
*Scandal*
According to the suit, Swaleh and four others allegedly conspired to defraud a consulting firm of Sh5.8 million.
The offense was committed on various dates between June 4, 2014 and June 22, 2014, in the office of the First Cabinet Secretary, specifically the office of the Director of Press Services, in the Nairobi County.
“The five, together with others who did not appear in court, conspired to defraud $45,000, equivalent to Sh5.8 million, from an engineering consultancy firm by falsely claiming to have been able to secure a tender of construction of two stadiums in Kenya, a fact which you know to be false,” the prosecution said.
Swaleh was expected to plead guilty to a Sh5.8 million fraud. The matter was brought before the court to confirm whether the DPP had made a decision to review the charges or allow the case to continue as it is. But the court was told that the request for a new trial had been rejected, meaning that Swaleh and his co-accused would plead guilty.
