President William Ruto says his cabinet secretary Moses Kuria is justified to speak his mind following his ongoing public spat with the media.
While posing on who’s responsible to protect the government against criticism from the media, the president said he cannot find any fault with any utterances made by the CS.
Speaking to journalists after the flagging off of the WRC Safari Rally in Naivasha, Nakuru County the President said his government will defend the freedom of the media and will also defend the rights of “people like Moses Kuria” to express themselves
‘We must defend the free media, their rights to criticise whatever they want even to write falsehood. But we must also defend the people who hold the media to account,” he said.
The president who was speaking in the lakeside town to flag off the Naivasha circuit of the 2023 WRC Safari Rally, further said that CS Kuria has the right to criticize the media amid an injunction by the high court stopping the CS from using disparaging, vilifying words against any media practitioner
A petitioner moved to court to challenge the suitability of Moses Kuria to hold the office of trade investments and industry cabinet secretary.
This comes after Kuria made unprovoked and unsubstantiated verbal attacks against Nation Media Group, to which he has received criticism from Kenyans, media players, Ethics and Anti-government Commission and political leaders.
Senator Sifuna had filed a censure motion in the senate on Moses Kuria, however the speaker Amason Kingi directed the CS to respond to questions by the senators.
Sifuna says the censure motion was meant to hold Kuria to account over his recent remarks towards the media.
On his part Moses Kuria has maintained he will not apologize maintaining that the fourth estate has lacked objectivity