Hardly a week after his explosive exposé on the Kenya-United States health deal, prominent whistleblower Nelson Amenya has suffered a setback after being sued over claims of false publication.
A group of Community Health Promoters on Wednesday, December 10, filed a petition seeking to compel the vocal activist, among other things, to 'stop publishing further misinformation' regarding the Ksh207 billion health deal between Kenya and the U.S.
In their petition, the CHP accused the whistleblower of reportedly circulating false, misleading and sensational claims suggesting that Kenya had surrendered control of its health system to a foreign nation.
They argued that as a result of this misinformation, CHPs across communities have faced fear, suspicion, hostility, and resistance during household visits.
According to the health promoters, their routine data collection has been interrupted, and essential public health programmes have been compromised, directly affecting the health and safety of the very people they serve.
To curb further spread of the alleged false information, the CHPs sought the court's intervention to stop Amenya from publishing or spreading the said allegations further.
They also demanded that the whistleblower be compelled to delete all the purported misleading posts regarding the multi-billion-shilling health deal.
The CHPs noted that the fulfilment of these requests would help in protecting the constitutional rights of Kenyans, including the right to health, dignity, and accurate information.
"As Community Health Promoters, we remain deeply committed to serving our communities with integrity and respect. We urge all members of the public to rely on verified, factual information,' the CHPs stated.
The latest development comes a week after Amenya made an explosive exposé on Kenya-U.S. health, alleging that President William Ruto's administration had allowed data sharing of sensitive patient information with the U.S. government.
Taking to his X account on December 2, Amenya claimed that the agreement would grant the U.S. government real-time access to all Kenyan health records.
He further claimed that, under the proposed agreement, disease specimens obtained from Kenyan patients would be shared with around ten U.S. pharmaceutical companies.
