It’s election season, which translates to season of lies and propaganda.
Both sides of the political divide have their own versions, and unfortunately respective supporters take it as the truth. On Saturday, KMPDU Secretary General Ouma Oluga stated that the government will pay the 500 Tanzanian doctors Sh20,000 each per day.
That would translate to Sh600,000 a month if a doctor works without rest. It may still come to more than half a million if we remove a few off days.
That statement stinks of a lie from a mile away. But most supporters of the doctors strike, which unfortunately had taken the usual Jubilee vs Nasa route, believed the figures.
Yesterday, Moses Kuria and Dagoretti North MP Simba Arati were having a live studio interview at Radio Maisha, also aired on KTN News.
The discussion turned to the SGR project, and Arati made a very bold claim.
“.…ile railway ingetoka Mombasa na ifike Nairobi…[President Uhuru Kenyatta] anatuambia ati railway inatoka Nairobi pia na inafika Naivasha, Inafika kwa shamba lake.”
That loosely translates to, ” The President keeps telling us that the railway will extend from Nairobi to Naivasha. It is being extended to his farm.”
At this point, Moses Kuria interjected… ”Huu ni ujinga. Huu ni ujinga. Wacha tuongee ukweli.” before taking off his headsets and walking out. This is the second time Moses Kuria is walking out of a live interview, having done so on Citizen TV’s Hussein Mohamed.
But that said, I think Arati’s statement was stooping a bit low. The purpose of the SGR extension to Naivasha is to spur development of the industrial park. Whether the line touches on some of Kenyatta family land (we have not independently verified) was surely not the driving force to build it.
The SGR is supposed to be a project for the whole country, and we can discuss about quality and price, but I think the motives for building it are genuine.
Therefore for this one, unlike his first walkout, I’ll not judge Moses Kuria too harshly. That was indeed a foolish statement by Arati.
Watch the clip.
What do you think?
