Media giant Standard Group has been given 48 hours to apologise to five individuals over a recent exposé news story, or face legal action.
The five individuals, Careen Cherotich, Elizabeth Waithera, Antonella Kakuko, Don Kamau, and Samuel Mundia, through their lawyers, served the media house with a demand letter accusing it of defamation, character assassination, and violation of constitutional rights.
In the letter dated June 27 and addressed to the media house's Chief Executive Officer, the individuals accused the Standard of peddling 'cock and bull sensationalism' and subjecting their clients to reputational ruin.
''You have plunged yourself into phenomenal trouble for defamation, vilification, and repulsive character assassination of our clients. This is in respect to malicious falsehoods and self-promotional editions that you published on diverse platforms on or around 24th June 2025,'' the letter read in part.
In the referred news article, The Standard accused the five of coordinating WhatsApp groups and recruiting goons to disrupt the peaceful protests. They detailed how the network extended from senior State House officials, Members of Parliament, government officials, and Members of the County Assembly (MCAs), to grassroots mobilisers in some of Nairobi’s informal settlements.
They also disclosed how the National Police Service (NPS) was allegedly privy to the situation despite previously assuring protesters of their safety during the protests.
The article painted Cherotich as fund mobilizer from the the Office of the Chief of Staff, Waithera as a coordinator linked to the Nairobi County and Kakuko as a feared 'arsonist-in-chief', controlling digital disinformation campaigns.
It further identified Kamau as a strategist who allegedly incentivized the theft of protesters' phones, while Mundia was described as a political enforcer allegedly linked to street-level gangs.
As captured in the demand letter, the five individuals' names and photos were splashed across various platforms of the media house, including print and digital editions of the story, with allegations also posted on X, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.
They have given Standard Group 48 hours to retract all defamatory statements, falsehoods, fabrications, innuendos, images, or likenesses posted on all their platforms.
They have also been ordered to apologize on all their platforms in the same intensity with which they reported the defamatory piece and to permanently cease and desist from further defamation or publication of falsehoods in relation to the individuals.
''Unless you comply with the terms of this demand within the next 48 hours, we are under firm instructions to launch suitable legal proceedings against you, to uphold our clients’ rights, without further reference and at your own peril as to costs and consequences,'' the letter concluded.
