He Should Look At Himself- John Allan Namu's Response To CS Linturi Calling Him A Crook [VIDEO]

Award-winning veteran investigative journalist John Allan Namu, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Africa Uncensored, offered a stinging clapback to Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi who earlier in April sparked uproar on social media by labelling the former a 'crook'.

Linturi spoke during a Citizen TV interview on Thursday, April 11 whereby he termed an expose done by the investigative journalist's media house as hearsay, despite the issue of fake fertilisers in the country falling mainly in the CS's docket.

He claimed that the media house did not seek clarity from his Ministry to get the full picture of the matter, something Namu would counter by revealing that Africa Uncensored reached out to his Ministry on February 15 this year, the only government department that did not respond to the allegations.

"What was run on Africa Uncensored is not anything that I would take seriously. Irresponsible journalism would require that before you do it, get a clarification from the Ministry to understand what is happening. There is every reason for one also to say no, this is not fair," Linturi commented.

Here is the video:

"The CS claims we never reached out to the Ministry, that’s a lie. On 15th Feb this year, we reached out via email, his Ministry is the only government department that did not respond to our claims. When he says that I am a crook and a liar, perhaps he should take a hard look in the mirror," Allan Namu responded.

Linturi was challenged to respond to receiving the communication from Allan Namu, to which he claimed that the communication was sent to the Ministry as a whole and not as a person, neither to his office nor his Personal Assistant (PA), which he claimed would have been easier for the information to reach him.

Namu on his part argued that the move to release the expose on fake fertiliser was meant to serve the interests of the public as part of the media's watchdog role in keeping the government of the day accountable.

"If he has a personal grudge against me, he should take it up with me personally, not to try and mislead the nation in such a serious time," he added.

"If Mr Linturi is saying that it was not brought to his attention, it is not my responsibility beyond reaching out via the official channels that we have done to then take it to his office personally. He keeps on dragging our name through the mud when it is we who have brought this issue to the attention of the public. As the CS he must apologize to our organization and to the nation for doing something like this."

On Friday, April 5, Linturi argued that the government recovered from past misgivings and was able to supply better fertiliser to farmers even though sentiments by KEBS and his own Ministry, might have disagreed with him.

He added that he never bothered to respond to Allan-Namu regarding the expose titled Fertile Deception, claiming the journalist failed to see it from a different point of view.

"We've been able to learn from the past and we've been able to now give even better fertiliser than we were talking about.

"Other than this crook by the name Allan Namu...because we know him, that's why I have never responded to him because he is a character that does not just look at things from the right perspective," Linturi told reporters.

Dismissing the fake fertiliser allegations, the CS urged farmers to ignore what he termed were stories on the subject intended to diminish the trust the government fostered with the farmers on the fertilisers.