The IPI global network condemns the attack on Nation Media Group (NMG) by a top Kenyan government official, Cabinet Secretary for Trade, Moses Kuria, and calls on government officials to allow the media and journalists to carry out their work without fear of reprisals in any forms.

According to reports, on June 19, Moses Kuria launched an attack on NMG,  labeling it as an ‘’opposition party’’ while speaking in Embu, the capital city of Embu County, in the eastern part of Kenya.  Kuria also warned government departments not to place advertisements with NMG, saying, “from today, not even tomorrow, if any government department advertises with Nation Media, know you are on your way home”. 

Kuria’s attack on NMG was apparently in response to an expose by the media outlet of a scandal pertaining to edible oils, which allegedly caused a financial loss to the Kenyan government in terms of tax revenues. The trade ministry reportedly single-sourced private firms to import cooking oil tax-free.

Kuria is not the only Kenyan government official or politician to attack the media in recent times in response to real or perceived criticism.

Responding to calls on him to stand with the media after Kuria’s attacks, President William Ruto is reported to have said, “…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.”

A petition initiated by human rights defender Charles Mugane has led Justice Lawrence Mugambi to issue a court order barring Moses Kuria from uttering or expressing any insulting and demeaning words against any media practitioner.

In May, President Ruto and his deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, also reportedly accused critical media houses of bias and claimed that these media outlets sided with the Azimio opposition party leader Raila Odinga.

In March, Odinga himself  accused The Star Newspaper, one of the country’s leading newspapers of bias, and called for his supporters to boycott it.

“Highly-placed state officials have made it a habit to profile and unfairly criticize the news media whenever they or the institutions they lead are caught up in accountability questions’’, Churchill Otieno, executive director of the Eastern Africa Editors Society, told IPI. 

He continued: ‘’It is an act the Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has turned into a career, and now Trade Minister Moses Kuria seems to emulate. Holding power accountable is a cardinal role of the news media and we encourage all journalists to continue to deliver on this ethically and with constant vigilance. President William Ruto should publicly demonstrate that these individuals are not espousing his policies whenever they go against the media and journalists.”’ 

The verbal attacks by politicians come as journalists in Kenya continue to face violence. In March this year alone, IPI recorded 33 incidents of press freedom violations in Kenya amid the political violence following public protests staged by the Azimio party. Scores of journalists were physically brutalized by political party sympathizers and security forces.

‘’The Kenyan state and its institutions and representatives have a duty to protect and promote fundamental freedoms, which include media freedom. It is therefore highly disturbing that top government officials, politicians, and other public duty bearers resort to attacking the media when they come under pressure to account to the public”, IPI Director of Advocacy Amy Brouillette said. “Political figures with concerns about media coverage should use the right of rejoinder or other appropriate medium to address those concerns instead of publicly undermining the critical role media play in advancing democracy and good governance.”

She added: “We call on all public duty bearers and candidates for office in Kenya to respect media freedom in their speech and policies and refrain from attacking the press for doing their job. We urge President William Ruto to send a strong and unequivocal signal to members of his administration and to the public on the need to protect journalist safety and safeguard independent media as an essential tool for democracy and accountability.”