The day President Uhuru Kenyatta crept up on me

You are deeply engrossed in the live commentating of a football match for your radio station’s listeners.

Then someone calmly enters the studio through the door behind you.

A colleague, maybe?

The intensity of the match (Italy versus Spain in this case) in the final minutes of regulation time cannot allow you to remove your gaze from the screen immediately. After a couple of seconds, you steal a glance — and standing right there is President Uhuru Kenyatta, wearing a military jungle coat.

Goodness gracious, President Uhuru Kenyatta?!

It happened to 23-year-old Ruben FM intern Shaffie Zele on Tuesday night. And when he spoke with the Saturday Nation the following day, he still had not found words to exactly describe how that moment felt.

“It was like a dream,” he said. “I still don’t believe it.”

He was not expecting this. He did not have the slightest clue that Mr Kenyatta would be visiting the studio. Then, it was the Euro semi-final match that mattered. 

Immersed in the drama unfolding at Wembley Stadium in London, for a moment he forgot that since 2019 he has been unable to complete his journalism diploma course at the Sunrise Training College because his father died that year, and with that his dream of getting fees to register for final exams evaporated.

He wasn’t thinking of the fact that he has interned at various TV and radio stations for three years now as a sports commentator and analyst but is yet to get a paying job. All is for exposure at the moment. 

It mattered little to him that he lives hand-to-mouth in the slums, with his mother looking up to him for financial support. 

It was Italy versus Spain for now. All about the Bonuccis, Olmos, Azpilicuetas and Jorginhos of this world.

Then the President happened.

After regaining his composure, he remembered telling listeners: “Believe it or not, in studio we are now blessed to have a most distinguished guest.”

His boss Thomas Ochieng, the radio station manager, had been informed in advance of the President’s visit. By then he was at home, listening to the station.

One thing that struck him was the composure with which Zele spoke with the President live on air despite the happenstance.

“I was amazed by the confidence that our presenter Shaffie Zele held; how he engaged the President and just the general composure, bearing in mind that he is just an intern who came to Ruben FM the other day,” Mr Ochieng said.

Zele thinks it is because of his natural gift of starting conversations even with the strangest of strangers.

“I find it quite easy to interact with people. I can meet a new person and strike a conversation there and then, even before I know their name,” he said.

He even managed to ask Mr Kenyatta which team he had been supporting at the Euro finals. It was Germany, which had been knocked out in the round of 16 stage.

A video recording of part of their conversation circulated widely online. Zele was feeling a little famous during the interview.

“I’m getting a lot of comments online. Some are claiming that I must have been given money by the President. Many people believe that the President has to leave you with money when he visits. But that didn’t happen. He only promised that he might make an arrangement to have me go to State House,” said Zele.

“I hear others are saying I should have asked for a job right then. But at such a time, such things don’t come to mind,” he added. “Some are saying I’ve already made it. Those I owe are reminding me to repay. There are lots of messages; everybody wants to be associate with me.”

The station manager noted that Ruben FM, part of the charity-run Ruben Centre that has a school, a hospital among other facilities, had become a hit also.

“Some people are calling to advertise with the radio station; so I can say it’s an added advantage to us,” he said. “I’ve also been checking our Facebook page, the ‘likes’ have suddenly increased.”

President Kenyatta visited the Ruben Centre as part of his night tour and launching of a number of government projects in Nairobi, mainly hospitals.

Should that State House invitation promise come true, Zele said, it will be a dream-come-true.

Born and raised in Lukongo, Kakamega County, Zele is the sixth and last born in his family; a family weighed down by poverty. He dreams of making it to one of the big media houses in

Kenya some day so he can further his passion for sport; which was ignited when he used to listen to radio football commentary as a young boy.

“I hope to be like them (his sports journalism mentors) one day; to at least have a programme, or to be employed somewhere,” said Zele.

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