Gag The Media Like You Did To Moses Kuria- Gachagua To Judiciary

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Friday, June 23 poured cold water on a High Court ruling which stopped Trade Cabinet Secretary (CS) Moses Kuria from verbally attacking any media practitioner.

Speaking during a graduation ceremony at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), the DP, who has been an ardent critic of the media, argued that the Judiciary was biased.

He demanded that the courts show a sense of balance by safeguarding the interests of politicians tormented by the media.

To show that the courts are not biased, Gachagua called for the Judiciary to issue restraining orders to media houses to protect political leaders the same way the courts issued restraining orders against political leaders to protect the media.

"The same way the courts have been persuaded to gag Moses Kuria from holding the press to account I want the same courts when leaders go to court to ask them to restrain the media from criticizing leaders, the same courts must give the same orders so that we are fair.

"We must have equity and fairness. What is good for Nation Newspaper must be good for Moses Kuria. This is a new world," he argued.

The former Mathira MP expressed delight at the media's response to criticism by politicians allied to the Kenya Kwanza government, a matter which he termed a paradigm shift from the days whereby the media has been criticising politicians and enjoying purported invincibility.

He reiterated that the Kenya Kwanza government was prepared to counter reports with facts, in his continued onslaught against the media and calls for a fair and impartial legal system.

"So (the media) welcome to the world of Moses Kiarie Kuria...I am so happy with the way the media has reacted to criticism. It's good you are feeling the way we feel. You have been hitting us left, right and centre and nobody has ever held you to account. Moses Kuria has asked you a few questions and you are all over crying, you have seen nothing," he said.

"We want to ask leaders in this county to join Moses Kuria to hold the press to account. They must be accountable for what they write and say. And if they write lies they must be countered with facts. There is nobody who is immune to accountability. Everybody must be accountable for their actions."

According to the DP, the media's grace period had expired and it was time for them to be held to account by the government of the day.

"You have been having a field day for too long, and you must take responsibility for what you write," the second in command insisted.

On Wednesday, June 21, the High Court issued an injunction order against Moses Kuria, barring him from uttering or expressing any insulting and demeaning words against any media practitioner. The order was given by Justice Lawrence Mugambi following an application filed by Charles Mugane, and pending the determination of a petition he filed.

Mugane, a human rights defender, had moved to the High Court to file the petition days after the CS threatened to fire government officials who place adverts on the Nation Media Group (NMG), a media house which was victim to the Kuria's numerous attacks on Twitter in recent days.

At the same time, President William Ruto took Moses Kuria's side and narrated his own troubles at the hands of the media, despite assuring that the government will defend press freedoms in the wake of CS Kuria's verbal attacks.

"We must defend the free media, we must defend their right to criticize, to say whatever it is that they want to say even to write propaganda, to say the wrong things, to write falsehoods.

"But we must defend the right of those who hold the media to account, who call them out. When the media goes rogue, we must also defend the right of people like Moses Kuria to speak their minds, the same way we are defending the media to say what they want, including the wrong ones," he stated.