Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria and Citizen TV’s news anchor Sam Gituku clashed on Wednesday, September 13, over the prices of cooking oil in Kenya.
Appearing in a panel interview on Citizen TV’s special coverage of Kenya Kwanza’s first year in government, CS Kuria claimed that the price of one liter of cooking oil in Kenya had dropped to the region of Ksh 230.
Kuria was reacting to Sam Gituku’s earlier presentation stating that the price of one liter cooking oil had dropped to Ksh340 from Ksh450 last year.
However, his claim was contested prompting Citizen TV to conduct a due diligence on the claims.
Through its ground reporters from Eldoret, the media house established that the prices were at Ksh355 for some brands while others went for Ksh 347, and Ksh 307 at the minimum at a supermarket in the town.
In his defence, CS Kuria affirmed that he was certain about retail joints selling cooking at Ksh230 in Ruiru, Kiambu County.
“We will be patient with you. Just go now to Ruiru, we are here for two hours where is the hurry,” Moses Kuria noted amid a heated moment.
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At the time, his fellow CSs on the panel, among them Susan Nakhumicha (Health) and Simon Chelugui (Cooperatives) also tried to back Kuria’s claims.
The incident sparked an online discussion with Kenyans sharing mixed perspectives of the real state of cooking oil prices in Kenya.
In a subsequent post on X, CS Kuria affirmed that “The price of cooking oil is much lower than we found it”.
Moses Kuria responds to critics of Affordable housing
In yet another moment in the live coverage, CS Kuria lost his cool after Prof Alfred Omenya, an analyst on the show, described Kenya Kwanza’s Affordable Housing Project as a massive miscalculation.
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“It is not the problem of the lower class or the middle income. The government housing policy is dumb,” Prof Omenya stated.
However, his comments provoked Moses Kuria who in his rejoinder rubbished his insights and called to question the need for education in Kenya.
“Kenya spends Ksh550 billion to educate every year on education,” Kuria posed, pointing out that the analyst’s remarks did not match his level of education.
Further, the CSs responded to other questions regarding Kenya Kwanza’s agenda including success of Hustler Fund and Universal Health Care.
