(NDIMA/IFEX) – A High Court in Kenya has restrained “Finance” magazine, owned by opposition politician Njehu Gatabaki and published by Finance Institute Limited, from carrying articles insinuating that Cabinet Minister Nicholas Biwott was involved in the murder of former Foreign Affairs Minister Robert Ouko and British tourist Julie Ward. The order was made on 28 […]
(NDIMA/IFEX) – A High Court in Kenya has restrained “Finance” magazine,
owned by opposition politician Njehu Gatabaki and published by Finance
Institute Limited, from carrying articles insinuating that Cabinet Minister
Nicholas Biwott was involved in the murder of former Foreign Affairs
Minister Robert Ouko and
British tourist Julie Ward. The order was made on 28 January 1999 and will
remain in force until the final determination of a suit filed by the
Minister against the magazine, its publisher, and editor-in-chief Njehu
Gatabaki.
Biwott has sued for libel and is seeking general and aggravated damages and
a permanent injunction against the publishing of words defamatory to him by
the defendants. In his complaint, Biwott says the magazine’s issues of 22
November and
13 December 1998 portrayed him as the killer of Ouko and Ward.
In giving the order, Judge Msagha Mbogholi observed that the defendants have
twice failed to enter an appearance despite having been duly served with a
hearing notice.
