Dismiss Governor Kidero's defamation claims, two media houses tell court

NAIROBI: Two leading media houses have asked the High Court to dismiss an application filed by Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero seeking to silence and stop them from linking him to the troubled Mumias Sugar Company.

Standard Group and Nation Media Group, in their objection, argued that the petition filed by the Nairobi Governor was vague as it did not disclose what he particularly sued them for and the remedies he was seeking.

Dr Kidero framed his case on the grounds that his rights were infringed and sought declarations against the media houses that they had infringed his rights, but the media houses argue that the case ought to have gone before a constitutional court and not a civil one.

Through their lawyers Patrick Lutta and Jackie Mohamed, the two media houses argue that Kidero did not show anywhere in his case that his reputation had been injured by the stories published.

“You cannot ask for declarations in a defamation case,” the court heard.

MUMIAS STORY

It was the argument by the two media houses that the Mumias story emanated from a report bearing facts. They annexed telephone calls and messages where he was sought to reply to the damning report but could not be reached.

“Upon receipt of the KPMG report, I personally tried to seek out the plaintiff and get his side of the story but I did not get a response,” The Standard’s Daniel Wesangula told the court in his affidavit.

The two media firms told Justice Mabeya that the case was an abuse of the court process.

Further, the court heard that the media houses were finding it difficult to defend the case as it was unclear what they were particularly defending.

The governor had moved to court to stop the media from linking him with Mumias Sugar’s collapse miseries.

In his case, Kidero told the court that his nine-year tenure at the company was not covered in the report, adding that the burden of the current troubles facing the company was not on his shoulders.

SG and NMG want Justice Mabeya to uphold their first objection and disregard Kidero’s claims.

“The plaintiff’s private interests do not outweigh the public interests,” said Standard’s lawyer Lutta.

Dr Kidero claimed the reports were based on falsehoods meant to scandalise his personality, exposing him as a corrupt person who is not worthy to be trusted with a public office.

“The alleged defamation materials complained of are factual extracts from documents in the public domain,” lawyer Lutta said.

Justice Mabeya will rule if the case will continue or not on March 27.