Embattled journalist Salim Swaleh has reached out with a heartfelt plea to his former boss, Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign and Diaspora Affairs CS Musalia Mudavadi, seeking assistance with his ongoing legal issues.
Swaleh, who previously served as the Director of the Office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary (OPCS) Press Service, was arrested in June 2024 on accusations of aiding fraudsters within Mudavadi’s office.
In a self-recorded video, the distressed journalist, who left his position as a news anchor at NTV for the government role, emotionally begged Mudavadi for forgiveness.
Swaleh explained that despite numerous attempts, he has been unable to contact his former boss.
“Good morning your excellency, I hope this video finds you well. Nimesema nirecord hii video kwa sababu nimejaribu kukutafuta sana for the last couple of weeks sijakua nikikupata.
“I have sent several peoplé to you, to talk to you but sijakua nikipata majibu yoyote. Your excellency you know you have been my father figure for the longest time that I have known you,” he said.
Swaleh also asked for forgiveness from Mudavadi, acknowledging that he had betrayed the trust they had built.
“We’ve built an unmatched trust between us and for the last one and a half years I served you, I served your good office, I served you with unmatched zeal. I broke the trust, I did and I am so sorry about it. I am truly remorseful about it,” he said.
Thoughts of taking own life
He continued by describing the immense stress and despair he has been experiencing due to the criminal case against him, even admitting that thoughts of taking his own life have crossed his mind.
“The last one month has been so difficult for me. I have been unable to even walk out because of the kind of publicity I received with the thing peoplé said about me, just threw me into some unchartered territory.
“A lot of things have been running in my mind, very bad things sometimes I feel taking my own life. I lost everything in a blink of an eye but more so the court process,” he said.
Swaleh further lamented that he is being extorted by both lawyers and police while his case drags on in court.
“Every time we go there lawyers are on my neck, police are on my neck, everybody is extorting me left, right, centre they think I have a lot of money. But every time we go there we are told the prosecution has not received any direction on what should happen to the case and lawyers would want it to continue that way because every session they take money from us, police take money from us,” he expressed.
In the video, Swaleh broke down several times, revealing that his salary had been stopped, bills were piling up, and he had little hope of finding a new job given the charges he faces.
“It is end month bills are piling up, salary stopped abruptly. I have loans. Please find it in your heart first to forgive me but secondly please help end this so that I can pick up small small pieces that are just left and see where I begin with the kind of publicity that I got. It is almost impossible to get another place to work. Please have mercy on me. Thank sir,” he said.
Swaleh arrested
The Office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary and Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs (OPCS-MFDA) reported in June 2024 that a crime had occurred at Mudavadi’s office, with the assistance of insiders.
A statement released by Peter Warutere, the Secretary for Strategic Communication in Mudavadi’s office, confirmed that an investigation was ongoing into a group of fraudsters and government officials who had facilitated their activities within OPCS-MFDA, located at the Kenya Railways building.
On June 22, 2024, police arrested several suspected fraudsters who had been posing as government officials, managing to move in and out of Mudavadi’s office with ease.
Among those arrested was Salim Swaleh, who had been the Director of OPCS Press Service, with claims that his office had been the base of the fraudulent activities.
“The surveillance was able to also track and identify their co-conspirators, among them Government officers who facilitated their dastardly activities. Those arrested include Salim Swaleh, Director of OPCS Press Service, in whose office the swindlers were found nested with fake door switch-nametags,” part of the statement reads.
The statement also detailed how the arrested individuals had been renting office space to criminals by vacating their offices for the fraudsters’ use or deceptively switching legitimate name tags with fake ones on office doors to further their schemes.
“Upon being smoked out in one of the OPCS-MFDA Railway offices where the confidence tricksters had settled in wait for their victims on Saturday, the group had the audacity of attempting to bribe their way out.”
Warutere said the operation succeeded following a tip-off that led OPCS-MFDA security to monitor the Railways Office closely, disrupting the reported acts of impersonation and facility misuse by the fraudsters.
“The surveillance involved tracking a group masquerading as visitors. They would individually gain entrance into the Railways Building on different dates and times by f********g their identities (as VIP guests or Government Officers), and the officers they purported to be visiting.”
Additionally, the government stated that the victims of the fraud were mainly foreigners who were lured into the office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary to meet high-ranking government officials in exchange for bribes.