Thursday, June 22, 2023 – In a surprising turn of events, President William Ruto has jealously defended Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria over his recent utterances against the media, asking the press to swallow the bitter pill.
Speaking in Naivasha yesterday, Ruto said in as much as it was right for the media to call out Kuria, it was also his right and that of like-minded Kenyans to attack the press anytime they are in the wrong.
“We must defend the media, the free media. We must defend their right to criticize, to say whatever they want to say, even to write propaganda, even to say the wrong things. We must defend that right.”
“We must also defend the right of those who hold the media to account. When the media goes rogue, we must also defend the rights of people like Moses Kuria to speak their mind the same way we are defending the media to say all the things they want to say including the wrong ones,” Ruto said.
Ruto, who appeared unperturbed by Kuria’s shameful utterances against Nation Media Group for exposing the rot in his government, said every person must enjoy their rights and freedoms without being intimidated.
“I say one journalist saying the President should defend us from Moses Kuria…that’s fine, I will do my bit. But I want to ask them, who is going to defend me from rogue media? Because I go through hell all the time. We need a fair balance.
“If they are feeling pain about what others say about them, it should tell them that there are people who feel pain when they write falsehoods about others. I hope this enables us to calibrate what we say either way.
“The central aspect of this is that we must always know that we have a country called Kenya where we all belong and must defend,” he added.
The sentiments by President Ruto come even after Kuria stated that he will not apologize for his attacks on the media.
However, in contradiction, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi distanced the government from Kuria’s attack on the media.
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