NMG in trouble over Ruto, ‘Rai’ photo

The Nation Media Group (NMG) has been forced to apologise over a photo used together with the Sunday Nation’s lead story in which Deputy President William Ruto was wrongly captioned to be in the company of Jaswat Rai, the man at the centre of the contraband sugar importation scandal while in actual sense, the man in the photo is Jaswinder Bedi, the chairman of the  Export Promotion Council and CEO, Bedi Investments.

The story was picked by Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen as part of an ongoing campaign to discreti Ruto’s name in a bid to undermine his ambitions to ascend to the presidency in 2022.

“I can see textile technologist and Manufacturer Jaswinder Bedi is now called “Rai” out of convenience just to ensure the narrative is alive even when the facts & evidence are stubbornly different. Who paid the piper @dailynation?” Murkomen tweeted.

Also in the picture is National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale.

The story, which indicated Ruto attended Jaswat’s wedding, told of how he keeps shttling between state offices pushing for tenders and that he has deep roods weaved around powerful political families, granting him his wishes.

Rai is the chairman of West Kenya Sugar Company, which has been accused of importing millions of tonnes of sugar by taking advantage of a duty free waiver announced by the government last year following a prolonged drought, which was later contaminated with copper and lead due to poor handling and storage.

In its apology, Daily Nation noted the photo was taken at a different function and had nothing to do with the sugar scandal.

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When he appeared before MPs last week, Rai denied claims West Kenya Sugar imported contraband sugar, saying all its imports were duly licensed by the sugar directorate and received pre-shipment verification from Kenya Bureau of Standards.