Gatundu South Member of Parliament, Moses Kuria, snubbed a prime time interview with Citizen TV scheduled for Tuesday, 15.
The lawmaker was set to share the set with Jubilee vice chairman, David Murathe, in an interview moderated by award-winning anchor, Waihiga Mwaura. Kuria and Citizen TV differed on his whereabouts and reasons for cancelling the interview.
On his social media pages, a few hours to the show, Kuria stated that he sent his Kiharu counterpart, Ndindi Nyoro, to represent him at the show.
“My colleague Hon Ndindi Nyoro will represent me in this show. I however remain ready and available to engage at party leaders level anytime, any place,” Kuria posted.
However, while explaining why Kuria failed to show up, Waihiga argued that the MP cancelled at the last minute without giving a clear explanation.
“We would have loved to have him here to shed further light (on election rigging claims he made at the United Democratic Alliance National Delegates Conference), but it seems like he will not be joining us this evening on News Night,” Mwaura explained.
On his end, Murathe claimed that Kuria did not show up as he feared engaging with him in a debate.
He further alleged that he had a dossier on Kuria but would not reveal it on a live TV show without offering the MP a chance to defend himself.
“I was excited to engage Moses this evening but he chickened out. Do you know why he did not show up? He knew some of the issues I was going to bring out would expose the wave they are creating around Mt Kenya.
“Moses is an MP for the President and he is leading a team that is insulting the President. No one has ever insulted former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in his Nyanza backyard. Same to Deputy President William Ruto in his Rift Valley backyard,” Murathe opined.
According to Murathe, it was painful to see Kuria abusing the President. He urged the MP to respect the President and his office.
While speaking at the UDA NDC, Kuria claimed that he was part of a team that rigged in President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2017. The MP alleged that the team crafted plans that saw Uhuru clinch power.
“The brains that made him President are her (at the NDC). He has taken his body only to Azimio la Umoja,” Kuria trolled the Head of State.
His allegations were not yet ascertained by the time of publishing. However, Murathe urged the Independent Boundaries and Election Commission (IEBC) to summon Kuria to explain his claims.
The Vice-Chairman of Jubilee stated that the Wafula Chebukati-led commission should handle the matter with the utmost sincerity seen when they called Murang’a Woman Representative to explain her election malpractice claims. IEBC also announced that it will summon DP Ruto to clarify remarks he made on an alleged plan to rig his votes in the August 9 polls.
“Incidentally when Moses got into parliament after winning a by-election, he got 4000 votes in a station which has 800 votes so this is something I think they are used to,” Murathe claimed that Kuria stole elections in 2014.
Citizen TV anchor Waihiga Mwaura, also asked Murathe to cut Kuria some slack as he was not at the interview to rebut the allegations. The MP had not yet defended himself on these claims by the time of publishing.
The IEBC, in several recent interviews, stated that it has always conducted free and fair elections and will achieve the same in the August 9 polls as mandated by the Constitution.
It is also not the first time Kuria has sparked controversy with TV interviews. In 2015, he walked out during an interview on Citizen TV hosted by Hussein Mohamed who currently serves as the William Samoei Ruto Presidential Campaign communications director.
