By Prudence Minayo
Kenya TV stations are known for their highly professional news anchors. These journalists have mastered the languages they read both the Swahili and English bulletins. This article takes a look at the best male Swahili news anchors in Kenya.
Swaleh Mdoe
Swaleh Mdoe gained prominence as a news anchor at Citizen TV. Not only was he known for his fluent Swahili but also for the numerous riddles he dished out at the tail end of the bulletin. He began his career at NTV back in 1999. The news anchor then proceeded to KTN where he worked as an editor and anchor. In 2007, he joined Royal Media Services as anchor and also became the Managing Editor for Swahili news.
Rashid Abdalla
For years Rashid Abdalla has been delivering Swahili news with poise and professionalism. He started his career at Radio Salaam, he showed great journalistic skills and soon secured a job with QTV where he worked as a news broadcaster and reporter. He then moved to NTV and was known for his special segment dubbed Swali Moja. Later on, he proceeded to Citizen TV where he currently co-anchors the 7PM news with his wife Lulu Hassan.
Salim Swaleh
Salim Swaleh’s grasp of the Swahili language would make one think he was born in the coastal region of Kenya where fluent Swahili speakers are predominant. However, the NTV news anchor was born in Nakuru county where he overcame a number of challenges in pursuit of a better life. He began his career officially working for Sauti ya Mwananchi radio before getting the opportunity to travel to Iran. While in Iran, he learnt to speak fluent Persian and broadened his skills as a journalist. Upon returning to the country, he secured a job with Citizen TV where he worked before moving on to NTV.
Lofty Matambo
Lofty Matambo is a renowned news anchor whose delivery of news is spot on. He gave up his career as a laboratory technician in order to pursue his passion which is journalism. He first tried to secure a job at Hope FM but was unsuccessful. Matambo then got a job at KTN where he worked as a presenter and also presented a show known as Shangwe for Radio Maisha. In May this year, he left KTN for NTV alongside Fridah Mwaka.
Ali Manzu
A celebrated journalist, Ali Khamis Manzu was born in the coastal region of Kenya. He pays special attention to human interest stories, current affairs, health, wildlife and conservation. At first, he studied architectural draughtsmanship at Technical University of Mombasa. He must have decided this was not the career he wanted to spend his life in as he soon enrolled for a diploma in Communication and Journalism. Later, he pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication and Public Relations at Moi University. He then got the chance to join KTN as a news anchor.
Nimrod Taabu
Arguably one of the best Swahili news anchors in Kenya, Nimrod started his career about two decades ago. He attended Kenya Institute of Mass Communication for media related studies before bagging a position with KTN. He then left KTN and joined NTV where he served as a news anchor. In 2018, like many other journalists at the time, he joined Citizen TV after several positions fell vacant.
Francis Mtalaki
Francis Mtalaki is an award winning media personality with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication and Journalism. He joined KTN in 2013 as an intern and remained to work for the station. In 2018, he left the station for Citizen TV.
Harith Salim
Harith Salim currently works for KBC where he presents the 7pm Darubini news. He graduated from the Islamic University of Uganda with a Bachelor Degree in Mass Communication and Media Studies. Harith has previously worked under the Nation Media Group.
Clifford Omwega
Clifford is a talented newsman currently working at TV47. This is one of the newest TV stations in the country that is doing a great job in bringing timely educational news to Kenyans. Before joining TV47, Clifford was working under the Standard Media Group. At TV47, he is known for the popular news segment Matukio Nyanjani.
Abuller Ahmed
The journalist took part in a KTN show called The Presenters Season 2 and he was among the top three contestants. He stayed on as a journalist for KTN until 2018 when he left the station for Switch TV. At Switch TV, where he worked as a Sports presenter and editor, he was famed for the program Dikodiko Viwanjani. In 2020, the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication graduate was unveiled as one of the new anchors set to join K24.
