Moses Kuria Revisits Little-Known US Trip In Clapback At Eric Omondi

Trade Cabinet Secretary (CS) Moses Kuria on Wednesday, June 7 took a swipe at comedian Eric Omondi who opposed President William Ruto's Affordable Housing plan, saying the country was focusing on the wrong conversation.

The light banter was one of the let-loose moments in an intense debate taking place during the Big Conversation debate hosted by Citizen TV as well as other Royal Media Services (RMS) radio, TV stations and digital platforms, including on Twitter spaces.

It all began when the funnyman, who has been known in 2023 for his mini-protests against the government, deconstructed the Kenya Kwanza government over reneging on its campaign promises for a better and easier life for the informal workers ranging from the mama mboga traders to the boda boda operators. 

Omondi believed that the Housing plan was the wrong point of focus as of now, referring to the Genesis era in the Bible where the first humans, Adam and Eve, provided them with two basic needs first; water and food.

Eric Omondi speaking during a town hall meeting on June 7, 2023. /CITIZEN TV

"I've been arrested four times and while in there, I've met boda boda operators and mama mbogas who have been arrested for petty offences,"

"Today we are having the wrong conversation, we are talking about housing. Even at creation, God created Adam and Eve and the first thing that God gave them was water and food, they didn't even have clothing," he narrated.

He believed that the government should be focused on bringing down the high cost of living, alleging that there were many families going to bed without food and that the government should be blamed for its failure to reduce the cost of living during the time period it had promised.

"For humans to survive, from what I studied in my lower education from primary, there is food, shelter and clothing. Today we are talking about housing...but there are no homeless people in Kenya.

"There are thousands of families and children who are going hungry. The conversation should be about the high cost of living that President Ruto, then a candidate, promised Kenyans and we must call out the government and the President specifically for lying to Kenyans," Omondi appealed.

He faulted Kenyans, and the media indirectly, for fuelling conversation regarding the Housing Fund levy, and saved himself from being pinned down by Citizen TV anchor Trevor Ombija, by using a case study of homeless people living in the United States (US) to clarify that the homeless people in Kenya he was referring to were not street children.

"They promised us a better life, an easier and a cheaper life, and we have the records. Today the conversation and the narrative has changed, we are talking about housing...there are no Kenyans who are homeless.

"I'm not talking about street children. I was watching a documentary about poverty in America and they have hobos (homeless people). We are talking about informal settlements like Kibra but I personally don't know about Kenyans who are actually homeless," he added.

On paying attention to the verbal assault, CS Kuria faulted Omondi over his criticism of the government, with the Cabinet member exposing for the first time on national TV details regarding his first international tour in the US.

"We must have people that connect themselves with the whole world. I've heard Eric saying he is a young man.

"Seven years ago, I used my money to take him to America to see the world. Now with the way he is talking, I should have used that money during parties," Kuria stated amidst laughter.

On September 29, 2022, Omondi recounted that Kuria stood by not just him but plenty of Kenyan youth over the years and had paid for him as well as his counterpart, Chipukeezy for the US tour.

Eric Omondi and Chipukeezy head to head with each other. /FILE