Court orders ex-FKF president Nyamweya to pay former senior sports editor Sh9m
The High Court has ordered Former Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Sam Nyamweya and two other officials to pay Ex-Senior Sports editor Sh 9 million for defaming him.
In a judgment, Justice Joseph Sergon said the complainant, Omulo Okoth, had established a defamatory case against Nyamweya, Michael Esakwa and Robert Asembo.
In the suit, FKF was sued through its officials namely Nyamweya, listed as first defendant, Esakwa and Asembo as second and third defendants.
They were accused of having published a letter in a local weekly newspaper implying that Okoth was a corrupt person.
However, while delivering judgment, Justice Sergon said: ''Having considered the evidence before this court, the submissions from the parties and the law applicable, I hereby enter judgment in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendants jointly and severally as follows, Sh7m general damages and Sh2m aggravated damages totaling to Sh9m.”
The judge also ordered that the defendants shall cause to be published a full and formal apology through namely Citizen Weekly within 30 days from the time of the judgment.
In court, Okoth had testified that prior to his retirement, he worked as a senior Sports Editor with the Standard Group of Companies and that he enjoyed a successful career throughout.
Okoth tabled in court documentary evidence to support his statement.
He established that the letter bears the head of FKF and that the same was drawn and signed by Nyamweya in his capacity as the president of FKF at the time.
"In the present instance, the plaintiff has stood by his evidence that the letter published was falsehood, which, evidence was not countered by the defendants at the trial. Upon considering the wording of the letter, the mode of publication and circumstances surrounding the relationship between the parties as denoted by the evidence, it is my view that the plaintiff has proved malice against the defendants," said the judge.
Okoth had argued that the words complained in the impugned letter were defamatory of him in the sense that they could be inferred in their ordinary and natural sense to imply that he is inter alia, corrupt sport editor, bankrupt, unprofessional and of questionable moral integrity.
"In my mind, the plaintiff has sufficiently shown that the defendants caused the letter to be published with Citizen Weekly. I am therefore satisfied that the plaintiff has established the ingredients on defendants," ruled the judge.
Okoth had told the court that upon his employment at Standard Group of Companies, on June 1,1987 until his retirement in April 2016, he had an on and off relationship with Nyamweya, which was made worse in the publication.
But Nyamweya had denied having defamed Okoth, saying he was not an employee of the Citizen Weekly. He asked the court to dismiss Okoth's application, saying it lacked evidence.
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