Rumor running all over social media suggesting that Ugandan – born Journalist Shaka Sali is dead.
The reports further indicated that he was critically ill and under assisted breathing in intensive care.
But the former VOA TV’s straight Talk host has spoken out on the reports , dismissing them as rumors in circulating social media video.
” Reports regarding my demise have been hugely exaggerated .The messages that came from the audiance , relatives and friends , among others clearly demonstrates that I have not occupied space in life but I have lived .Let’s keep human hope alive ” ,Shaka disclosed.
Shaka launched the weekly ‘ Straight Talk Africa’ in August 2000 as the VOA’s first TV offering on the continent .He was 48- years old at the time and that was just eight years after he joined the VOA team in 1992 and about 24 years after arriving in the U.S. as a half- baked former lieutenant in the Uganda Army of the president Obote 1 and early Idi Amin days.
He holds a doctorate in cross cultural communication and history from UCLA in California. He is a former Ford Foundation Fellow and has received numerous honors, including a United Nations Peacekeeping Special Achievement Award in International Journalism. Other awards include VOA’s Best Journalist Award and Kigezi College Butobere’s first ever Highest Achievement Award in International Human Communication. Butobere is located in Kabale, southwestern Uganda, and is Shaka’s alma mater.
During his career, Shaka has interviewed and hosted many presidents and prime ministers. Among them: General Olusegun Obasanjo, Former President, Nigeria; Levy Patrick Mwanawasa; Former President, Zambia; Tony Blair, Former Prime Minister, United Kingdom; Botswana President Seretse Khama Ian Khama; Ghana President John Evans Atta Mills; Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President, Liberia; Hifikepunye Pohamba, President, Namibia; Uganda President Yoweri Museveni; Joseph Kabila, President, DRC; Rwanda President Paul Kagame; and General Salva Kiir, First Vice President, and president of the government of Southern Sudan.
