Screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky once said, "Television is the menace that everyone loves to hate but can't seem to live without."
This would remain true in the Kenyan television broadcasting space where occassional drama seems to even drive more audiences to shows that promise future infotainment.
Here are six instances (in no particular order) when prominent Kenyans made outbursts on TV during live broadcasts.
1. Miguna Miguna on JKL
The controversial lawyer is among the most opinionated Kenyans worldwide and has never shied away from speaking his mind, even when he was faced with imminent deportation.
In 2016, Miguna cost Jeff Koinange his show at KTN when he verbally assaulted Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris.
Koinange was accused of failing to control Miguna Miguna for his actions on the show that was later cancelled.
So serious was the situation that the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) warned Koinange and KTN, that the show had violated Clause 9 on obscenity, tone and taste of the code of conduct for the practice of journalists.
2. Mike Sonko interview on Citizen TV
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko can easily be crowned as the king of drama in political circles thanks to his live TV stunts.
Citizen TV's Jeff Koinange, on Wednesday night, June 5, 2019, was forced to cut his interview short with the governor, just a few minutes after it started.
In the episode, the county boss had attacked Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris making allegations that she was corrupt and that she had at one time tried to woo him into a private hotel.
Koinange cut short the interview explaining that Passaris was not available to answer to the allegations.
3. Otiende Amollo on AM Live
Known for his calm and collected demeanor, Rarieda MP Otiende Omollo, on October 29, 2019, put his guard down and schooled former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale over his claims against the ODM Party.
Khalwale had claimed that the ODM Party advocated for violence in the country and institutions tasked with curbing the vice, were not acting.
Taken aback by the former senator's remarks, Otiende jumped in to correct his allegations against the party.
He stated that the former senator was wrong in stereotyping the ODM Party as one that had members from the same community.
4. Francis Atwoli Smashes Ksh170K iPhone
One thing that has been made clear in Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary General Francis Atwoli life is that he is never short of cash.
During an October 2019 interview on JKLive, the outspoken trade unionist smashed his phone in the studio while asserting his prediction that Deputy President William Ruto would not emerge victorius in 2022.
"The DP will not be the next president. If I were him, I would not waste even a single cent campaigning to be the next president,” Atwoli stated.
He went on to claim that Ruto was handicapped in the race to State House due to bad counsel.
5. Boniface Mwangi on JKL
The no-nonsense activist was not impressed when Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria was to appear with him in a 2016 episode of JKL on KTN.
Reports claimed that Mwangi and Kuria were not seeing eye to eye as the activist referred to the legislator as a propagandist.
The interview started with Jeff Koinange and Mwangi in conversation, only for Kuria to walk in unannounced.
Mwangi stood up and left as Jeff Koinange urged him to stay.
6. Moses Kuria and the f-word on NTV
In 2017, as the General Elections campaigns were heating up, Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria was also heating up against an NTV reporter and the media.
Warui Joseph, a then-aspirant in the Gatundu South race, had accused Kuria of terrorising him.
When the NTV reporter sought a right of reply from the politician, Kuria was having none of that.
"I am tired of stupid media. If someone accuses me, bring them here. Everything wrong that happens in this country is brought by Moses Kuria," he lashed out before closing with the f-word.
Below is the video of Moses Kuria outburst on NTV:
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