Gachagua Goes After Nation Media Hours After Moses Kuria's Threats

He also claimed the media was subtly inciting the public against President Ruto by publishing false and misleading articles.

Marvin Chege Marvin Chege
Jun 19, 2023 - 10:59 Updated: Jun 19, 2023 - 10:59
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Gachagua Goes After Nation Media Hours After Moses Kuria's Threats
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua speaking at State House, Nairobi on June 19, 2023 and Nation Media Group offices in Nairobi. /PCS.FILE

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Monday, June 19 joined Kenya Kwanza leaders in their sustained attacks against Nation Media Group (NMG) over what they termed as a biased coverage by the mainstream media.

Gachagua was speaking when he and President William Ruto presided over the Kenya-European Union Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs) signing ceremony at State House, Nairobi.

The second-in-command had criticised an article which compared the expenditure of President Ruto on foreign trips to that of his predecessors, claiming that Nation Media was hell-bent on tarnishing the reputation of the Kenya Kwanza administration.

He also claimed the media was subtly inciting the public against President Ruto by publishing false and misleading articles.

President William Ruto, DP Rigathi Gachagua and Trade CS Moses Kuria with European Union (EU) delegates at State House, Nairobi on June 19, 2023 /PCS

"Yesterday morning I found another headline saying that for the time you have been in office you (Ruto) have spent three times what your predecessors spent on local and international travel but these people were not honest enough and objective to also outline the level of activities you have carried out in that period because cost is determined by the level of activity.

"So I invite the media to find out when the President has travelled and to which country, what is the gain for the country. It is only then that you can make an objective analysis," he stated.

Turning the sentiments towards his part, Gachagua also claimed that the same media censuring President Ruto over his travels are the same ones complaining that he, as DP is not travelling.

"I don't understand these people sometimes. They complain that you are travelling too much and at the same time, they complain that I'm not travelling.

"I don't know which is which because I saw them complaining that since you leave me around to man the house, they say that you have stopped me from travelling and assigned me what they call useless duties. I don't know what it is that they want to do," he went on.

DP Gachagua went on to encourage President Ruto to continue with the travels "and bring resources for the development of this country".

In the report published on Sunday, June 18, the Daily Nation claimed that the office of the President spent Ksh2.369 billion on travel, fuel, hospitality and maintenance of motor vehicles alone for the period October 2022 to March 2023, compared to President Uhuru Kenyatta's expenditure during the same period last year which clocked at Ksh852 million.

Attributing to a report from the Controller Of Budget (COB), the article added that President Ruto's office spent Ksh541 million for the same period on domestic and international travel compared to Uhuru's Ksh218.3 million for the same period last year.

Trade and Investment Cabinet Secretary (CS) Moses Kuria had previously threatened that any government official who places an advertisement on NMG risks losing their job.

“I’ll finish by telling the media that Nation Media Group should declare whether they are a publisher, broadcaster, media house or an opposition party. I have declared that from today, any government department that will put any advertisement on Nation Media Group, should be sent home,” Kuria stated during a church service on Sunday, June 18 when he joined members of the Akorino Church in Embu County.

The basis of Kuria's criticism towards NMG was a report that claimed that Ksh6 billion in oil funds were abused through botched tenders issued by the Trade and Agriculture ministries.

The CS thereafter took the war against NMG to Twitter with an explosive expletive statement which sarcastically implied that in the future, the media house would primarily attract business related to auctioneers and death announcements through its classifieds section.

By the time of publishing, the Media Council of Kenya (MCK), the Media Owners Association and the Kenya Editors Guild (KEG) were yet to respond to Moses Kuria's tirade.

Trade CS, Moses Kuria during a past forum. /FILE

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