Host and senior editor of the Voice of America’s (VOA’s) Straight Talk Africa show, Shaka Ssali addressed students and faculty of The African University College of Communication (AUCC) on Thursday 9 July, 9.30am at their Adabraka Campus, Discovery House, off Kojo Thompson Road.

Mr. Ssali was in Accra, Ghana to conduct a live interview with President John Atta Mills who is preparing to host America’s first couple, President, Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.

A Ugandan by origin, Mr. Ssali is also Managing Editor for VOA’s English-to-Africa Service. He supervises the work of staff reporters who produce four hours of radio programming daily. Previous broadcasting positions held include Deputy Director of Radio Unamir in Kigali, Rwanda; Regional Editor for Eastern Africa at VOA; Film and Television Producer for the New York State Public Broadcasting Co.; and Writer, Presenter and Editor for Sauti za Africa, a radio programme at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

Mr. Ssali was educated in Uganda and the United States. He received a Ph.D. in Cross Cultural Relations from the University of California (UCLA) in 1988.