Former Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has fired back angrily after waking up to a Daily Nation front-page story linking him to the stalled Sh23 billion county industrial parks project.
Furious and unapologetic, Kuria says he has been unfairly dragged into a scandal he did not create — and he is not taking it quietly.
In a strongly worded post on X, Kuria accused the Nation Media Group of distorting facts and turning him into a convenient villain.
He questioned why his image was splashed prominently while the officials who took over the ministry after his exit were nowhere to be seen.
“How do you splash the mugshot of the minister who started this revolutionary dream and not the photos of his three successors who killed it?” Kuria wrote.
The industrial parks project, once sold as a bold plan to industrialise counties and employ thousands of young people, is now under heavy scrutiny.
According to the Daily Nation, nearly three years after launch, not a single county has completed an industrial park. Sh5 billion has already been spent, with the government planning to release another Sh4.4 billion this year.
Kuria insists the blame is misplaced. He reminded Kenyans that he left the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment on October 4, 2023, long before the project stalled completely.
“I am a complainant who is being portrayed as the offender,” he said, calling the coverage “bure kabisa” and asking how long the media would continue “hunting” him.
The former CS defended the original idea behind the industrial parks, saying they were meant to turn counties into production hubs and give young people real jobs, not promises.
He maintains that the vision collapsed after he left office, under leaders who failed to push it forward.
As billions more are set to be pumped into the struggling project, Kuria’s outburst has added fresh heat to an already explosive issue.
With taxpayers demanding answers and politicians trading blame, the industrial parks saga is far from over — and this public fight between power and the press may only be just beginning.