7 Times Gachagua Has Staged Attacks Against Media Houses
You will find several reports flooding the internet regarding Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's consistent and persistent attacks on Kenyan media
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Here's a challenge for you who is reading this article; do one simple online search with the keywords "Gachagua" and "media".
You will find several reports flooding the internet regarding Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's consistent and persistent attacks on Kenyan media, many times for what he claimed was close relations with the opposing Azimio la Umoja coalition.
Almost no media house has been spared, and on two occasions he has publicly singled out Nation Media Group (NMG) and the Standard Group Limited for stories he termed were against him and the Kenya Kwanza government.
"You Azimio people – media – leave us alone. Wait for us at the ballot box in 2027," one of his phrases indicates, arguably the most common attack the second-in-command has used against the media, even if because the media is doing its job of informing the public.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua speaking at the National Drama Festivals State Concert at State House, Nairobi on June 2, 2023. /PCS
Viral Tea combed through past reports and instances that Gachagua has fired at the media and identified seven events:
Finance Bill 2023
The latest assault by the second-in-command saw Gachagua drag members of the Fourth Estate into the ongoing debate on the Finance Bill 2023.
He stated that no one in employment will be left out of the proposed 3 per cent housing levy, not even journalists who in the last quarter of 2022 went through arguably the worst crisis in Kenyan media since the start of the new decade with mass firings and restructurings aplenty.
“You journalists will have the 3 per cent on house levy deducted from your dues. You have a salary.
"It is only Ksh2,500. Even if you continue opposing the proposed bill through the media. The youth must get employment,” he stated.
Madaraka Day Speech
Gachagua is known not to mince his words on anyone, including the media and he picked the first national celebration of 2023 held at the Moi Stadium in Embu on Thursday, June 1 to continue firing his accusations at the media of being biased during the 2022 general election campaigns.
"We want to urge all Kenyans to allow our president an opportunity to steer this country back to economic prosperity," he urged President Ruto.
While he himself declared that he was supporting the President, he called upon leaders to come out and support him to rescue the country from public debt through real-time interventions before, you guessed it, went for the media over allegedly going to bed with the opposition.
"We want to assure you (Ruto) that the majority of Kenyans are behind you never mind our detractors, they gave you no chance to succeed, as they see you making practical interventions they are all over shouting and bringing propaganda which is being by the press and we don't mind because the press we all know were part and parcel of the Azimio brigade," he claimed.
Unmet Promises
Gachagua on Saturday, May 20 spent seven minutes of his address verbally slaughtering the media at a thanksgiving ceremony in Nyandarua county, claiming that it was deliberately mud-slinging President Ruto's government.
For this round of attacks, he called out the media for turning a blind eye to the many achievements that President Ruto had earned within the first eight months of his administration.
"It is time to call out the media, especially, The Nation. Before the elections, you worked with the Opposition to fight President William Ruto and ensure that he did not win the August 2022 General Election but you fail.
"Even in Gichugu where Raila's running-mate Martha Karua voted, they got very few votes. We all know that you will fail even in your current onslaught against Ruto's government," Gachagua stated.
The Deputy President then asked Kenyans to spread the word about the various achievements that President Ruto's Kenya Kwanza administration had achieved within a short time.
"We know that the media will not report about it, but President Wiliam Ruto has achieved 50 per cent of the promises that he made to the people during campaigns," Gachagua claimed.
He went the extra mile to compel the media to report on the promises Kenya Kwanza attained in the more than eight months in power alongside the ten pledges the Kenya Kwanza administration is yet to fulfil since taking over power, as reported by the Nation in its headline ‘Broken promises’.
Many Kenyans expected Gachagua to oppose Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot's remarks expressing President Ruto's confidence in crushing the cartels in Kenya but fearing that he might struggle with two he termed as extremely powerful; the Kenyan banks and the Kenyan media. He didn't.
Instead, he revealed that he would continue discussing about the cartels, noting that some of them own media houses in Kenya.
"Two media stations are owned by the cartels we are fighting and we are going to fight them because we have a responsibility as leaders to make sure that we protect the farmers and consumers from exploitation.
"We hammered the media 9-0 because the media was part of Azimio and we hammered Azimio and all its affiliates including the media. In another election, if the media is in bed with our opponents, we will crush them 'politically speaking'. The media sponsored headlines against Ruto and me," he stated during a joint interview with journalists on Sunday, March 12.
Gachagua called upon media houses to be open to criticism, just as they are free to poke holes at the Kenya Kwanza government. He however appreciated the growth of the freedom of the press with up to six media stations converging to interview him as compared to the times when Kenya had one media house.
The cornering of Standard Group on Thursday, February 23 represented the first time since taking office that DP Gachagua became specific in his nagging of the media.
While speaking at a burial in Gatanga, Murang'a County, the DP attacked the over 100-year-old media house over a cover story that raised doubts over his leadership style and dress code.
He specifically referred to the article Rogue Deputy President and accused KANU chairperson, Gideon Moi, of using the media to paint a bad picture about him and his boss, President William Ruto, for his selfish political gain.
"I've seen the Standard, owned by Gideon Moi, write a whole page that Rigathi Gachagua is a rogue Deputy President. That Gideon Moi is an Azimio fellow. You don't expect him to write anything good about us.
"If William Ruto and I, if our fate was to be decided by the press, Ruto would be in Sugoi and I would be in Wamunyoro village. But your opinion does not count in this country, that is why we ignore you and give you the content to cut," he stated.
This was also the first time Gachagua's remarks triggered a counter-response from the Media Council of Kenya (MCK), which through CEO David Omwoyo, expressed its concern with public utterances by key government officials against the media at public meetings, adding that such statements put journalists at risk as they may be attacked by members of the public.
On Sunday, February 12, Gachagua accused the media of publishing what he termed lies without doing their due diligence while responding to the alleged raid on former Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Fred Matiang'i's Karen home.
During an interdenominational Church service at the Nakuru Athletic Club Grounds, Nakuru County, he asked media houses to do some soul-searching within themselves while affirming that the National Police Service (NPS) is an independent institution as compared to the puppet it was subjected to by the previous government.
"We would like to tell the press, when you go and write lies, think about it. The police force that was led previously is different from this one.
"The police service we have is professional and has no time for politics or to go and raid a house at night. We have no time to deploy our police for nonsense," he stated.
His sentiments come after the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) wrote to several media houses requesting information around coverage of the alleged raid by police and other law enforcement agencies that happened on Wednesday night, February 8.
Former KTN News anchor and Deputy Editor, Broadcast, Sophia Wanuna, who now works as the Deputy Director and Head of the Directorate of Public Affairs and Corporate Communications at the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), will probably have 'something' to tell you about Gachagua.
The second-in-command had put her on the spot, accusing her of being unfair to him during the deputy presidential debate held on Tuesday, July 19, 2022.
Speaking on KTN News on Sunday, September 18, Gachagua alleged that Sophia, alongside NTV's James Smart, had denied him the opportunity to address what the Kenya Kwanza government had planned for Kenyans before they were elected into power.
"Sophia to start with, both of you were very unfair to me in the running mate debate because you never gave me an opportunity to tell the people of Kenya what we want to do for them. You took me to issues and took too much time, it's okay to talk about integrity but you took too much time.
"I can tell you, had you given me that opportunity, the 7.2 million votes we got, we'd have got 7.5 million," he said.
Many of the questions fielded to Gachagua during the debate revolved around integrity issues, and the DP maintained that he was clean despite losing Ksh200 million to the previous regime over suspicions of being proceeds of corruption.
He claimed he was a victim of former President Uhuru Kenyatta's wrath to straighten everyone to support his political "project".
“I don't have billions, I only have Ksh203 million in that account. I am worth Ksh800 million minus the Ksh200 million they are holding, that's Ksh600 million,” he said.
Aaron Cheruiyot Media 'Cartel' Remarks
A collage of NTV's Smriti Vidyarthi and Senator Aaron Cheruiyot. /VIRALTEAKE
Standard Group Over 'Rogue DP' Article
Fred Matiang'i Raid
Gachagua vs Sophia Wanuna
Collage of Sophia Wanuna and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. /FILE
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