Kuria shows the middle finger, insults media again

Buoyed by his bosses’s shared disdain for the Fourth Estate, Trade CS has ignored a court order preventing him from insulting media, in what could set a precendent for how the Kenya Kwanza relates with courts

Trade and Industrialization Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has yet again insulted the media, ignoring a court order that prevented him against using slanderous language against Kenyan media.

The High Court last week issued an injunction forbidding Kuria from using disrespectful or foul phrases toward any media outlet.

Justice Lawrence Mugambi issued the orders in an application filed by human rights defender and lawyer Charles Mugane.

But speaking during a food distribution event in Muranga, Curia referred the media as prostitutes, saying he will not stop giving the media a taste of their own medicine.

“These prostitutes from the media, how they come at me is how I will respond to them. The way they feel hurt when I call them that, is the same way we are hurt when they wrongly accuse us,” Kuria said.

In his ruling, Justice Mugambi said that pending the determination of the suit, Kuria is restrained “from uttering or expressing any belittling, condescending, disdainful words against any Media Practitioner by the meaning of Article 34 of the constitution howsoever and whatsoever.”

The judge ordered that the CS and the Attorney General be served within three days, and that they respond within seven days with the matter slated for mention on July 24.

Expect an onslaught

Meanwhile, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has said the media fraternity should brace for attacks from the political class terming the Moses Kuria-led onslaught against the press as an attempt to cure ‘lies’.

While referring to the Trade Cabinet Secretary’s assertion of media bias and targeted disinformation, Gachagua said there’s more to come.

“They (media) must be accountable for what they write and what they say and if they write lies, they must be countered with facts… You have seen nothing yet,” Gachagua’s said in reference to Kuria’s escalating war with the media.

“I’m so happy with the way media has reacted to criticism. It’s good you are feeling the way we feel. You have been hitting us left, right and centre but nobody has ever held you to account,” Gachagua said.

“The same way the courts have been persuaded to gag Moses Kuria from holding the press to account, I want the same courts, when leaders go to ask them to restrain the media, the same court must give same orders so that we are fair.”