Court lifts gag order on NTV's exposé 'Sins of Saviours'

A Nairobi court has dismissed a case by Child Welfare Society of Kenya (CWS), which sought to stop NTV from airing of an exposé on the ills at the State corporation.

CWS, whose statutory mandate is to protection and welfare of the children, had gone to the children’s court and obtained an order stopping the airing of the exposé.

Nation Media Group (NMG) complied and suspended the airing of the exposé, after they were served with the court order.

And through its lawyers Gitonga Mureithi & Company Advocates, NMG applied for the case to be dismissed, arguing that the children’s court is a special court and only deals with issues of children and not defamation.

According to Mr Mureithi, the case by CWS was aimed at defending its reputation and had nothing to do with the welfare of the children. He said the state corporation cannot bring a suit for defamation and it should be open to public scrutiny, because it is funded by tax payers’ money.

CWS on their part argued that the exposé had the potential of revealing the identities of the children in the exposé, and the court had therefore to intervene.


The court held that CWS was claiming damages in the suit and it had no jurisdiction to entertain it. The matter, the court added, ought to have been filed in a civil court.

The magistrate ruled that there was no nexus between the suit and the protection of children because the suit sought damages for defamation.

It was the court’s finding that with no jurisdiction, the application for contempt by CWS ought to be struck out and the gag order lifted.