Moses Kuria Restarts Beef With Nation Over Jacque Maribe Appointment

Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria on Thursday evening, March 14, in a bid to address reports that he had hired former Citizen TV news anchor Jacque Maribe as Head of Communications in his Ministry, picked a fresh fight with the Nation Media Group (NMG).

In a post, the Cabinet Secretary first of all denied ever granting NMG an interview where he confirmed that he appointed Maribe to the docket, a month after she was acquitted in the murder case of businesswoman Monica Kimani.

While refuting the claims, Kuria urged the regional media house's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to produce evidence justifying quotes that he had indeed held such an engagement, even though his best bet to a response may be Nation's senior-most editors.

"Contrary to reports by the Nation, I have never been interviewed by the media House nor made any comment nor announcement about Jacque Maribe. I have challenged CEO Stephen Gitagama to provide evidence from one Mwangi Muiruri who wrote the article," Read CS Moses Kuria's post.

Seemingly believing that NMG would ignore his demands, the CS threatened to escalate the matter to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Friday morning, March 15, going to the extent of dragging the reporter into the mix.

He alerted the CEO, one of the top media owners in Kenya, that a screenshot which depicted his response to reports of hiring Maribe, was forged. That screenshot had claimed that it was the Public Service Commission (PSC) who appointed her, not him.

"I have since alerted Mr Gitagama that the said screenshot is a forgery. And I will be at DCI Headquarters at 9.30 am tomorrow to report the Nation Media Group and the reporter of fraud and forgery," he vowed on X.

PSC chairperson Anthony Muchiri clarified that Maribe did not land an appointment at Kuria’s ministry as the Head of Communication according to the reports last week, adding that no such appointment was made, let alone the board receiving a request to employ her.

This is despite a media invite seen by Viral Tea revealing Maribe's name and her contacts ahead of the launch of the Moses Kuria Cup tournament in Meru on Saturday, March 9.

While insisting on the matter, the PSC Chairperson noted the position would be filled through a competitive recruitment process should a vacancy arise.

Viral Tea earlier exposed a post on her Instagram stories tagging the CS, who was to touch base at Nakuru County from 9.00 am on Thursday for NYS-VTC Mashinani alongside Governor Susan Kihika, even though it was not immediately clear what the true position was.

Later in the day, images of Maribe accompanying CS Kuria to an official government function surfaced, adding more fuel to the speculation.

The CS's row with NMG began as far back as June 18, 2023, when he hurled unprintable insults at the media house on X over its report that claimed that Ksh6 billion in oil funds were abused through botched tenders issued by the Trade and Agriculture ministries. He was previously manning the former.

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, as well as orders to government agencies to desist from advertising with the media house forced the entire Kenyan media landscape to gang up against him.