(NDIMA/IFEX) – On Friday 20 August 1999, the publisher of “The Post on Sunday” magazine, Anthony Muiruri Gachoka, was jailed for six months, without the option of a fine, for contempt of court. **Updates IFEX alerts of 16 July, 24 February, 17 February and 16 February 1999** Gachoka’s publishing firm, The Post Ltd., was fined […]
(NDIMA/IFEX) – On Friday 20 August 1999, the publisher of “The Post on
Sunday” magazine, Anthony Muiruri Gachoka, was jailed for six months,
without the option of a fine, for contempt of court.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 16 July, 24 February, 17 February and 16 February
1999**
Gachoka’s publishing firm, The Post Ltd., was fined Kshs 1 million (approx.
US$13,500), which must be paid before the magazine can resume publication
and circulation.
Gachoka represented himself and his company in the landmark case. However,
he claimed to have obtained considerable legal opinions from lawyers Paul
Muite, James Ochieng Oduol and Gibson Kamau Kuria. His last-minute plea for
a medical check-up upon his conviction and sentence fell on deaf ears.
The court ruled that the penalty imposed on the publisher and his firm was
not meant to protect individual judges against slander, but rather members
of the public, who should not lose faith in the judiciary and the
administration of justice in the country.
Gachoka faced an imminent jail term after Attorney-General Amos Wako
instituted the contempt proceedings against him on 15 February. He fled the
country for the United Kingdom via Uganda, but returned from his self-exile
on 25 May.
The publisher was found guilty of contravening the sub judice rule and
making unjustified attacks on the Appeal Court which, the court ruled, was
calculated to bring the administration of justice into disrepute and
contempt.
The unanimous decision was read for three hours by each of the seven judges,
who convicted Gachoka and his firm and jailed the publisher without the
option of a fine. The judges were: Appeal Court judges Evans Gicheru,
Richard Otieno Kwach, R. S. C. Omolo, A. A. Lakha, A. B. Shah, Philip Tunoi
and Effie Owuor.
The offending articles were cover stories in the 31 January to 6 February
issue of the weekly, headlined “Chesoni Implicated in an Orgy of Judicial
Anarchy and a Shs 30m Bribe”, and in the 7 to 13 February issue, titled
“Judiciary in Panic as Chesoni Falls Out of Favour and Sues”.
In the printed comments, the publisher had claimed that Chief Justice
Zaccheaus Chesoni had pocketed a Shs 30 million (approx. US$405,000)
protection fee from Goldenberg suspect Kamlesh Mansukhlal Pattni after an
official trip to New York in early 1999.
When the case came up for hearing on 7 June, Gachoka named President Moi and
his family as the principal forces behind the infamous Goldenberg scandal.
In an affidavit sworn on grounds of opposition to the suit against
him,Gachoka said he wanted prominent personalities summoned to testify in
his defence and charged that top ranking government officials were privy to
the Goldenberg conspiracy.
But he made an about-turn on 14 July and withdrew all his documentation,
saying he would rely on tape-recorded conversations between himself, the
president and the attorney general once he took the witness box.
The contempt proceedings were heard for three days – 3, 4 and 5 August –
when the High Court and Court of Appeal were on vacation.
Gachoka also risks paying substantial amount of money in damages to the
Chief Justice, who has separately sued for defamation in his private
capacity in the High Court, which has already issued restraining orders
against him.
