It Was Hard To Believe The Story Of US Top Trade Official Snubbing CS Kuria
The Mt Kenya Times 
Industrialization, Trade and Investment Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria
By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- We know you are trained to write but stop writing lies. This media house did not respond. Instead they opted to take a low profile. Did this confirm Kuria’s assertions that the story had been cooked?
- Kuria took the war against this media house a notch higher when he sent a plea to the state agencies and departments to stop giving this media house advertising work.
- I have heard them saying they have a right to advertise because the money they are paid belongs to the public.
- But I want to ask them this question. Is lying and feeding Kenyans with raw propaganda a right?
As I had previously written in this column, one of the mainstream media is leaving nothing to chance in executing a plot against Industrialization, Trade and Investment Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria.
The bad blood started when this media house published a story alleging that Kuria and his Agriculture counterpart Mithika Linturi had sanctioned a multimillion cooking oil scandal.
Noting that he was the main target, CS Kuria would not take the allegations lightly.
While stating that the award of the tender fully complied with the public procurement and tendering laws, he lashed out at the authors of this story.
He accused them of failing to uphold work ethics of being non- partisan, fair factual and objective and instead resorting to pushing the agenda of the opposition Azimio La Umoja-OKA party. You got hired and compromised to do this job in the countdown to 2022 general elections. Your project- in apparent reference to Raila Odinga-lost.
President William Ruto is now at helm of leadership. No sooner you accept this reality the better.
Appearing before the Senate committee, Kuria once again termed claims that his Ministry was involved in cooking oil scandal as a white lie and utter rubbish.
This was not an exposé. This media house behaved like a gutter press.
I challenge the authors to prove me wrong by producing documentary evidence.
We know you are trained to write but stop writing lies. This media house did not respond. Instead they opted to take a low profile. Did this confirm Kuria’s assertions that the story had been cooked?
Kuria took the war against this media house a notch higher when he sent a plea to the state agencies and departments to stop giving this media house advertising work.
I have heard them saying they have a right to advertise because the money they are paid belongs to the public.
But I want to ask them this question. Is lying and feeding Kenyans with raw propaganda a right?
Kenyans have a right to deny you the revenues if you do not give them accurate and correct information.
At this juncture, allow me shift gear and focus on the latest episode showing that this media was not yet done with Kuria.
While reporting about the meetings attended by the visiting US Trade representative Katherine Tai, the journalists wrote a story alleging how she snubbed Trade CS Moses Kuria in one of the meetings.
Allegedly, two Kenyan ministers-Kuria and his East Africa Community (EAC) counterpart Rebecca Miano- were supposed to attend this meeting. The United States top Trade official only agreed to meet and hold talks with the latter.
The meeting reportedly focussed on trade ties between the two countries. The US’s key mission is to look for business opportunities; markets for their goods and services.
For this media house, this was yet another opportunity to paint Kuria in bad light.
It was hard to believe this story just like the previous ones.
First, these journalists quoted sources. Which sources?
Even if the visiting official could have avoided talking about this matter in public (that is if the story was accurate and based on truth), I would have expected a spokesperson of US embassy in Nairobi to confirm this.
I want to ask this media house. How did you get this information? I’m sure this will be your answer. Our journalists were in the meeting venue. Fine, I’m sure they managed and have an audio or video clip. Can you release the content? Kenyans want to hear the actual words of the visiting US official.
‘I’m not going to meet CS Kuria because of his tirade and ‘social media posts’ against individuals and institutions’. This is what you quoted her as saying. If true, I’m sure she referred to specific tweets. This will help us to know them.
Unless they do this, it will be hard to convince me that this was not another cooked story.
Ms Tai is not an ordinary person in US and so my understanding is that her visit to Kenya had been organized earlier. The list of top Kenyan state officials she would meet had been prepared and sent to her. So, if she did not want to meet Kuria she could have communicated this before flying into our country.
As we know, the cabinet secretary (CS) is appointed by the President to help him in day-to-day running of the government. So, he or she performs a delegated role and was directly answerable to the head of state.
Therefore, snubbing a CS is a weighty matter and so the diplomat ought to communicate this in advance.
This will give the President an opportunity to look the concerns you have raised. If they have no weight and were designed to undermine the sovereign will of the people of Kenya, the president has the power not approve such visit.
It is worth to note this. During the stay, the official of Katherine Tai’s status is treated as a guest of state. This is the reason why the president ought to approve the visit.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi
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