Nairobi senator Edwin Sifuna has filed a motion to censure Moses Kuria, the Industrialization, Trade and Industry Cabinet Secretary over his threatening remarks to the media.

Mr Kuria’s outbursts come on the backdrop of an expose which revealed an edible oils import scandal in which taxpayers could have lost billions of money.

The expose which implicated the CS  began with a Cabinet approval for the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC), to import duty-free 125,000 metric tons of edible oil that made some connected individuals getting some 6 billion irregularly.

The former Gatundu south MP went ballistic and accused the Nation Media Group of being an opposition party and further labeled the media house’s journalists as “prostitutes”, he even made a roadside declaration directed at government agencies to stop advertising with NMG, failure to which they would be sacked.

The ODM Secretary General terms Kuria’s utterances “concerning,” saying his attacks on Nation Media Group amount to an infringement of the Constitution as they go against press freedom, guaranteed under Article 34 of the supreme law.

“…the CS for Investments, Trade and Industry, whose reckless tongue has now reached an unmatched level of infamy in the country, and whose divisive, abusive and demeaning rhetoric continues to cause consternation, Sunday, June 18, 2023, posted on his verified social media handles, in reference to the Nation Media Group that ‘Kwa wale xxx(unprintable)wa Aga Khan pale Nation Centre. You can still advertise auctioneers and funeral announcements. We will not stop those,” the Deputy Minority Whip’s motion reads in part.

The censure motion is an official admonishment of a person’s character, and if successful, could lead to the process of Kuria’s dismissal, a role that rests with the National Assembly.

Such a motion would subsequently need the backing of 117 Members of Parliament to advance to the next stage of establishing a special committee of 11 MPs to investigate the matter. If the committee recommends the CS’s removal, and the resolution adopted, the president shall dismiss the said CS