{"id":144862,"date":"2026-06-25T13:02:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T13:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/ruto-aims-fresh-salvos-at-standard-accuses-moi-of-exploiting-unpaid-workers\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T13:02:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T13:02:51","slug":"ruto-aims-fresh-salvos-at-standard-accuses-moi-of-exploiting-unpaid-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/ruto-aims-fresh-salvos-at-standard-accuses-moi-of-exploiting-unpaid-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruto aims fresh salvos at Standard, accuses Moi of exploiting unpaid workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 25 \u2014 President William Ruto on Thursday escalated his confrontation with the Standard Group by invoking the company\u2019s widely reported salary arrears, hours after the publisher publicly challenged his accusations of \u201cextortionist propaganda\u201d and defended its role as a media watchdog.<\/strong><\/p>\n

President accused KANU Chairman Gideon Moi of hiding behind debt while employees endured months of delayed salaries, describing the situation as a betrayal of journalism and press freedom.<\/p>\n

He responded hours after The Standard issued a strongly worded statement defending its journalism, aired an editorial response on prime-time television, and launched a social media campaign embracing Ruto\u2019s challenge to publish critical headlines \u201ceight days a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBro, the BILLIONAIRE you are; HIDING behind \u2018debts\u2019; forcing many months\u2019 UNPAID labour slaving to defend your STANDARD headlines \u2018BOLD\u2019 extortion GANGSTERISM driven by GREED; is HEARTLESS to loyal workers, INSULT to journalism and BETRAYAL to free media that STANDARD once belonged,\u201d Ruto wrote.<\/p>\n

Ruto faulted Moi for using \u201cunpaid labour slaving\u201d to sustain what he described as \u201cextortion gangsterism driven by greed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The remarks marked a sharp escalation in a row that began on Wednesday when the President accused Moi of using The Standard\u2019s headlines to pursue what he termed a campaign of \u201cblackmail\u201d and \u201cextortionist propaganda\u201d against his administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoi, your STANDARD media\u2019s 5 days a week EXTORTIONIST propaganda HEADLINES on me & my administration\u2019s transformative track record will get you NOTHING & NOWHERE. BLACKMAIL to yield to your GREED? NEVER,\u201d Ruto posted.<\/p>\n

The President further asserted that Kenya belongs to all citizens and not a select few, daring the media house to intensify its criticism.<\/p>\n

\u201cKenya belongs to all Kenyans, not you alone. Jaribu 8 days a week. Do your WORST,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In response, Standard Group rejected the accusations, defended its role as a media watchdog and questioned what it described as government efforts to frustrate its operations by withholding Sh1.2 billion that the company says it is owed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pose: What greater form of blackmail is there than a government withholding Sh1.2 billion that it owes us, with the apparent desire of frustrating our operations?\u201d the company said in a statement signed by Group Chief Executive Officer Chaacha Mwita.<\/p>\n

The media house also seized on Ruto\u2019s \u201ceight days a week\u201d challenge, publishing social media graphics declaring it would print \u201cThe Standard 8 Days a Week\u201d to meet public demand and noting that \u201ceven the President reads The Standard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Standard\u2019s statement did not directly address Ruto\u2019s allegations regarding unpaid labour.<\/p>\n

The latest exchange is the most public confrontation yet between Ruto and the Standard Group, one of Kenya\u2019s oldest media organisations, whose coverage has frequently scrutinised the Kenya Kwanza administration\u2019s policies and performance.<\/p>\n

The dispute comes months after a political thaw between Ruto and Gideon Moi. <\/p>\n

In October 2025, Moi said consultations with the President had informed his decision to abandon a planned bid for the Baringo Senate seat following the death of Senator William Cheptumo, a move widely interpreted as signalling closer ties between KANU and the Kenya Kwanza administration.<\/p>\n

Opposition leaders, including Kalonzo Musyoka and former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, criticised the rapprochement, arguing it formed part of Ruto\u2019s efforts to broaden his political coalition ahead of the 2027 General Election. <\/p>\n

Renewed tensions have fuelled speculation that relations between the two camps may have cooled, although neither side has publicly acknowledged any fallout.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 25 \u2014 President William Ruto on Thursday escalated his confrontation with the Standard Group by invoking the company\u2019s widely reported salary arrears, hours after the publisher publicly challenged his accusations of \u201cextortionist propaganda\u201d and defended its role as a media watchdog. President accused KANU Chairman Gideon Moi of hiding behind debt while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}