Court blocks Kabogo drug stories
A media house has been barred from publishing or broadcasting any stories linking an MP to drug trafficking.
The temporary order barring the Standard Group, which owns The Standard newspaper and Kenya Television Network (KTN) television was given by High Court judge Mr Justice John Mwera following an application by Juja MP William Kabogo.
Mr Kabogo told the court that he has been maligned by a story carried by the media house depicting him as a drug peddler and a side kick to an alleged drug baron.
The publication has severely injured his credit, character and reputation, he says.
He complained of a cartoon carried in The Standard newspaper on March 5 and subsequent story carried by KTN entitled ‘Peddler of Lives’.
The words used in the stories he complained about, he said, meant that he was a drug trafficker, corrupt, and an illiterate person fit to be a driver.
He believes the story was meant to disparage him in his profession as a politician.
The MP denies ever dealing in drugs or even engaging in such business.
He also denied being any body’s driver ever in his life.
Trafficking
The legislator told the court that sometime in November last year, the United States of America ambassador Michael Ranneberger claimed that certain individuals were involved in drug trafficking.
And a report on the drug business was submitted to the Internal Security minister George Saitoti by the ambassador.
Mr Kabogo told the court that the report identified him as one of those linked to the drug business.
He said the police investigated the claims and cleared him.
He now says the media house ought to have gotten his side of the story or even checked the police report. But they did not and instead carried a defamatory story, he says.
In his suit papers, Mr Kabogo describes himself as a ‘prominent businessman engaged in cargo transport and real estate development’.
The MP says the story by the media house has dented his image and is likely to cause him more damage if not stopped.
The judge at one point asked Mr Kabogo’s lawyer to show if he is the one referred to in the stories he is complaining of.
At this point lawyer Havi Nelson told the judge that he has a clip which if the court is interested he can play to show that indeed the stories referred to his client.
However the judge did not request for the clip to be played.
He gave the orders barring the media house until the full hearing of the case.
