STATEMENT BY GOVERNOR KIRAITU MURUNGI DISTANCING HIMSELF FROM TAX COMPLIANCE TROUBLES FACING WOMEN REP KAWIRA MWANGAZA

The Governor of Meru County H.E. Kiraitu Murungi has distanced himself from legal problems bedeviling Women Representative Kawira Mwangaza where her local media station, BAITE TV is engaged in a tussle with the law enforcement agencies over failure to pay taxes. In his response, Governor Kiraitu has addressed the matter as follows:

✍️I have been accused by Baite TV of disrespecting and harassing the women of Meru, following the events of last week, as narrated by the Managing Director of Meru County Renue Board, Dr. John Ntoiti.

✍️I want to categorically state that as the Governor of Meru, and a long-standing human rights crusader, I have the greatest respect for women of Meru, and indeed all women.

✍️My Government is implementing an ambitious program, the MERU TWAWEZA, for the social and economic empowerment of women in Meru County.

✍️I respect all our businesswomen and I will continue to fight for them. The management of BAITE TV is deliberately vilifying me, as a heartless dictator, who is harassing a simple village woman of God.

✍️This is not the first time BAITE TV is being unfair to me. This is a very clear case of terrible abuse of media freedom. I have been a victim of repeated daily abuse and vilification by BAITE TV for the last 3 years.

✍️Media freedom does not include baseless, malicious vilification, lies and abuse of any person. In fact, what we are witnessing on BAITE TV every day is media social blackmail and terrorism.

✍️What we are dealing with is not a case of oppression of a single village woman of God, and a Bishop of the poor. We are dealing with a ruthless, cunning, political hypocrite, a drama queen, and a master of deceit, who is cynically manipulating the media, religion and tears of the poor, to create anger and bitterness against me.

✍️BAITE coverage of KIRAITU MURUNGI has been nothing but an endless circus of false, defamatory, and malicious stories which are intended to inflame public anger against me, and paint Kawira Mwangaza a saint, and the mother Teresa of Meru

✍️The law requires every business person to pay tax. You are not exempted from business licenses because you are a woman or a Bishop. Every Bishop knows that you must render to Caeser what belongs to Caeser.

✍️No amount of lies, intimidation or theatrics will exempt BAITE TV from paying its taxes to the county Government of Meru