Sudi, K24 Trade Barbs Over Uhuru as Political Tensions Resurface

A public exchange between Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi and K24 TV has reignited political tensions surrounding former President Uhuru Kenyatta and his strained relationship with President William Ruto. 

The dispute began after Sudi reacted to a K24 report, accusing Kenyatta of “selective amnesia” and alleging that the former president was using media outlets linked to his family to undermine the current administration. 

“Uhuru Kenyatta, it seems you suffer from selective amnesia. You’ve forgotten that you once told us ‘gazeti ni ya kufunga nyama’,” Sudi wrote. He further claimed that MediaMax, the company associated with the Kenyatta family and which owns K24 TV, was being used to attack President Ruto’s government. 

The remarks prompted a response from K24 TV, which challenged Sudi’s interpretation of “selective amnesia” and broadened the discussion to governance and public accountability. 

“Selective amnesia is not only forgetting what someone once said about newspapers. It is also forgetting voters after elections. It is forgetting the cost of living after the campaigns. It is forgetting young people without jobs, parents struggling with school fees, and small traders facing heavy taxes,” the station said in a statement. 

Sudi responded with an even sharper rebuttal, directing criticism at Kenyatta’s administration. 

“Selective amnesia is when someone left the country drowning in huge loans, knowing the incoming President would struggle to run the economy,” he said. “Selective amnesia is when you stole all the money in the country and left the coffers empty.” 

The MP also accused the former president of failing to deliver development during his tenure, remarks that are likely to fuel further political debate. 

The exchange underscores the enduring fallout between Kenyatta and Ruto, whose political alliance collapsed during Kenyatta’s second term in office. Once close allies, the two leaders fell out ahead of the 2022 General Election, with Kenyatta backing the opposition candidacy of Raila Odinga while Ruto successfully campaigned for the presidency. 

The latest war of words also highlights the increasingly adversarial relationship between some media outlets and politicians aligned to the Kenya Kwanza administration, with debates over governance, the economy and public accountability continuing to dominate the country’s political discourse. 

Neither Kenyatta nor MediaMax had publicly responded to Sudi’s latest remarks at the time of publication.