PETER KARANJA
Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria has dismissed reports on social media that he has dumped Deputy President William Ruto’s Tangatanga and joined President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee wing.
Kuria on Thursday, October 21, told The Standard that he was in the hospital and was not ready to respond to political propaganda by bloggers.
“These are the kind of rumours I don’t respond to… I am in the hospital,” said the MP before hanging up.
The legislator was trending on Twitter for the better part of Thursday afternoon after reports emerged that he had ditched DP Ruto.
“I never knew Moses Kuria is such strategic. Maybe his Chama cha Kazi will win the Kiagu by-election. He has silently dumped UDA. He knows for him to bargain; Mt Kenya must have a house. UDA will struggle to win in Central. A number of parties in Kikuyu nation will partner with Raila,” Abuga Makori tweeted.
Moses denied other rumours
On August 7, Kuria was forced to deny a social media post on social media purporting that he had quit the hustler movement is fake.
The reports emerged after the Gatundu South MP skipped a Parliamentary Group meeting which was attended by the Hustler MPs at Ruto’s Karen offices.
One of Moses Kuria’s parody account posted that the meeting was of no interest to him.
“I have seen people asking why I didn’t attend the PG meeting. In the first place, was it necessary? My party is CCK not UDA,” the post read.
Strained relationship
Many Kenyans fell victims of the fake news, sharing it on Facebook and Twitter among others.
Kuria is among MPs from Mt Kenya region who have endorsed DP Ruto despite a strained relationship between the second in command and his boss President Kenyatta.
The legislator is admitted to Karen Hospital with burns on his feet from a heating mat he was gifted by a friend.
The MP said he often suffered from numbness in his feet and a friend procured the machine to help him with the problem.
The specific model he used is manufactured by a Korean company, Ceragem, and sold all over the world by retailers under the brand.
Kuria has been visited by leaders across the political divide led by Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga.
IEBC rulling
Earlier, High Court ordered Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission [IEBC] to conduct Kiagu By-Election and include Moses Kuria’s Chama Cha Kazi candidate Milton Mwenda Kabobo.
Kiagu by-election was postponed pending a petition filed Chama Cha Kazi after Kabobo was disqualified from vying over integrity issues.
A Nairobi High Court had barred the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission from printing names of Kiagu ward by-election contenders on ballot papers until the case was heard and determined.
Kuria’s lawyer Ndegwa Njiru sought several conservatory orders including printing of ballot papers, degazetting of Kabobo, or alternative candidate selection among others.
Other candidates in the upcoming polls are Simon Kiambi of UDA party, Samson Kirimania and Harun Muthamia under Chap Chap party, Samson Magambo (Jubilee), Joseph Mwangi of Democratic Party, Patrick Kananda of Chama Cha Uzalendo, Joshua Nabea of Ford Kenya, Scholastica Mwendwa (Party of Democratic Unity), Douglas Kirimi (Safina), Nathan Gitonga (National Ordinary People Empowerment Union-Nopeu) and Phillip Micheni (Peoples Party of Kenya).
IEBC is yet to announce the new date of the by-election which was slated for October 14 before the orders stopping it were sought.