Waiguru seeks more time to serve Google with court papers

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has requested for an extension of time to enable her serve internet giant Google, with court papers outside the country.

She is seeking compensation for an alleged defamatory story against her that was published by a Kenyan blogger in 2014.

Ms Waiguru through her lawyer, Thursday requested High Court Judge Lucy Njuguna to extend by a further 12 months, the period within which she can serve her court papers to California-based Google.

The governor needs more to serve Google again through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The summons initially granted on March 23, 2015 has since expired.

EXPIRED

The validity of the summons expired as Ms Waiguru’s counsel sought assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the service of summons outside the country.

"In the circumstances, it is only fair that the validity of the summons be extended,” explained Ms Waiguru’s lawyer, Ms Waiguru has filed a suit against Google Inc, its subsidiary Blogger Inc and Kenyan website The Daily Post seeking payment for a story, which was published in the wake of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s sacking of the former chairman of the Youth Development Fund, Gor Semelango.

She wants the global search engine held liable for the article alongside The Daily Post, which authored the allegedly defamatory story against her in April and May 2014, at a time she was Devolution secretary.

Yesterday, the governor through her lawyer said Google Inc is a multinational corporation whose control is outside the jurisdiction of the High Court in Kenya, and in view of this fact, service of summons has to be effected outside the country.

REVEAL OWNERS

Ms Waiguru has in a separate case filed in 2014, sued Google and its Kenyan subsidiary Google Kenya seeking to compel them to reveal owners of the Daily Post website.

Blogger Inc is a content management system which is wholly owned, operated and controlled by Google Inc. Blogger Inc hosts The Daily Post.

Both Google and Blogger Inc are located in Mountain View, California. In addition to damages, Ms Waiguru wants Blogger Inc, ordered to pull down the defamatory content.

In 2014, Ms Waiguru had requested the High Court to compel Google to reveal the owners of Daily Post, holding that their identities were in the search engine’s records database.

She also sued the search engine’s local subsidiary in that instance.

REPUTATION

Ms Waiguru told the court that her quest to seek legal redress for the said damage to her reputation was being frustrated by Google’s refusal to furnish her with the identities and contact details of the Daily Post’s owners.

However, Google Kenya distanced itself from the matter, arguing that it only does marketing and support services for its parent firm. The subsidiary added that it has no authority to pull down the story or reveal the owners of any of its clients, including the Daily Post.

The firm further said that Ms Waiguru’s petition was a defamation suit against a wrong entity disguised as a constitutional petition.

The application seeking for an extension of time will be heard on July 10.