Garissa Township Member of Parliament-elect, Aden Duale, has launched another attack on Citizen TV claiming that the station has continued to portray preferential treatment towards the Azimio la Umoja coalition.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, August 24, Duale alleged that Citizen TV is reportedly giving a lot of coverage to the petition filed by Azimio's flagbearer, Raila Odinga and his running mate, Martha Karua, despite William Ruto of Kenya Kwanza being declared president-elect.
He added that Ruto will be vindicated by the Supreme Court's verdict scheduled for Monday, September 5.
"The way Citizen TV has invested in the Azimio Petition you would think they are co-judges of the Supreme Court? You failed with biased campaigns, and biased opinion polls and now you will fail at Supreme Court.
"You have not learnt. When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging," Duale ranted.
The former leader of the majority in the National Assembly also claimed that the recent opinion polls that projected Raila as the preferential presidential candidate were instigated to propagate a narrative that did not resonate with Kenyans.
Duale and his Kenya Kwanza proponents have in the past protested Royal Media Services' (RMS) alleged bias against Ruto.
They criticised the station's owner, S.K Macharia for publicly declaring his support for the former premier. In their argument, they claimed that the media in Kenya did not allocate Ruto equal prime-time News coverage as Raila.
“It is 9:37 pm, 34 minutes into news coverage and no story on William Ruto. In Citizen TV's running order, Kenya decided Ruto and the Hustler Nation belongs to the filler part of the bulletin."
"It is official that Citizen TV is the Fox News of the 2022 Campaign, slanted for Raila Odinga,” digital strategist, Dennis Itumbi, a close ally to DP Ruto complained.
SK Macharia, however, defended his decision noting that he exercised his constitutional right as a citizen of the country and that his businesses were managed by professionals.
"I am exercising my personal constitutional right to political participation as a responsible and free citizen.
"My political views and preferences are completely independent of my businesses which are managed by impartial and competent professionals," he previously stated.
Ruto in successive interviews also clarified the attacks on Citizen TV arguing that he advocates healthy criticism of the media and not a crackdown on its freedoms as alleged.
