Go to Ruiru! CS Kuria embarrassed on live TV over cost of cooking oil
Cabinet Secretary for Investment, Trade and Industry Moses Kuria was left embarrassed on Wednesday after making contradictory remarks about the price of cooking oil.
The CS, who was in a panel discussion hosted by Citizen TV dubbed ‘The Big Conversation’ on President William Ruto’s achievements and failures after one year in office, was put on the spot over the cost of unga and cooking oil.
Kuria, while responding to a presentation showing the prices of cooking oil on live TV, claimed that the prices listed were not factual.
This was after Citizen TV news anchor Sam Gituku presented the approximate cost of cooking oil in the country as of September 13, 2023, at Sh340 per litre, down from Sh450 on the same date last year.
The CS insisted the cost of the two basic consumer products had drastically come down with oil retailing at an average of Sh230-Sh240 a litre since the Kenya Kwanza government took office, figures that conflicted things on the ground.
“Cooking oil is much lower than what you project there, and Kenyans know that. You’ve said correctly that the price has come down, but it’s not even to the level you have said. It is by 50% since we came to government,” he insisted.
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“I know for sure that the price of edible oil is much lower than that. It’s in the region of Ksh230 to Ksh240…everyone can be entitled to their own opinions, but not everyone can be entitled to their own facts. Facts are universal. I want us to also look at the price of sugar.”
Kuria was livid, claiming the figures were falsified and were being backed by a skewed panel.
However, after fact-checking from a local supermarket while live in the studio, the prices indicated were not as low as the CS had claimed.
“I wish your figures were factual. You pride yourselves that your TV is the most watched in the country, so don’t forget that somebody is watching you from a supermarket, so be careful,” he said.
Some figures were lower than Gituku’s projection, others were higher, but none were near CS Kuria’s alleged authoritative figure.
When confronted, the CS’s only defence was to tell the station’s crew, “go to Ruiru now” and check the prices there.
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