- On Monday, Kuria launched an attack on the Nation Media Group.
- Kuria also threatened that the media organization will not get advertisements from the government.
Image: RIGATHI GACHAGUA/TWITTER
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has told off Trade CS Moses Kuria over his remarks to stop advertising with some media houses.
Gachagua said the government will allow the media to continue doing its job.
"I don't agree with Moses Kuria's suggestions that we should stop advertising with some Media Houses. But I agree with him that the Media has become rogue and it's part of the Azimio brigade trying to bring down the government," he said.
"But that will not stop us from calling you out. When you go overboard, we must tell you on the face that is the strategy."
On Monday, Kuria launched an attack on the Nation Media Group.
The attack followed an expose by NTV, a station under the group where it alleged that Cabinet Secretaries engineered the drop in the price of edible oils, a move that made the taxpayer lose about Sh5.6 billion.
Kuria also threatened that the media organization will not get advertisements from the government.
He said the only advertisements they cannot stop from going to the NMG are those from auctioneers and funeral announcements.
NMG said the verbal attack using foul and crude language against them is shocking, primitive and inexcusable in the eyes of level-headed Kenyans who expect cabinet secretaries to conduct themselves with decorum befitting their high offices.
“It constitutes a serious violation of Chapter 4 Bill of Rights, particularly the freedom of the press. We note that the attacks on media have been sustained since the Kenya Kwanza government took office,” the statement reads.
They said that it is not the first time CS Kuria has attacked Nation Media and the media in general.
Media watchdogs have also called out the CS saying his utterance is a threat to media freedom.