Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has appointed former radio presenter Shaffie Weru as Head of Events and Branding for the county. He will serve in the role for five years.
Weru was infamously let go by Radio Africa Group in 2021, after a storm that saw him accused of misogyny over comments he made regarding a case of gender based violence (GBV). Also sent home were his then Homeboyz Radio morning show co-hosts DJ Joe Mfalme and Neville, with major advertisers including Safaricom and East African Breweries Limited (EABL) among those who demanded action by the company.
In his new role, Weru will be responsible for the county’s events including the Nairobi Festival introduced by Sakaja last year. The festival incorporates music, food and culture to celebrate the city and its people.
Weru is close to Sakaja and, prior to the appointment, had been the MC at a number of county government events.
Weru had worked at Radio Africa Group for 18 years before his abrupt exit. Reflecting on his exit in his new show ‘Shafted’, which he began in February this year, Weru admitted that, at one point, he fell into depression over the situation – particularly due to the axing of his colleagues.
READ MORE>I Shafted Myself – Shaffie Weru Reflects on Losing His Job
“I’m in this position right now because of that one incident…In fact even on behalf of Joe Mfalme and Neville who are really doing very well, because at some point I was really getting depressed because I was like yo, me at least I’ve had my go, I’ve been working all these years, Neville had just joined that station, he was barely a couple of months old, Joe Mfalme also was barely a couple of months old,” he revealed.
Weru also stated that they handled their responses to the uproar poorly, with separate apologies that only seemed to make things worse.
“It (apology) went south…Joe did his apology, I did my own apology. If this thing had been handled right we would have done a communal apology, one voice, and then maybe people would have taken us more seriously..but now, Neville already released his apology he wrote with G-Money, Mfalme released his, by the time I was chucking mine guys were like aaihh, these guys understand that the issue was messed up but that’s where I apologize for. I apologize for how we handled the whole apology scenario,” he stated.
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