Coast Regional Coordinator Nelson Marwa has been sued by Mombasa Speaker of the County Assembly Aharub Khatri after he called him a suspected drug baron.
Khatri asked the court in Mombasa to enjoin Marwa in his defamation suit.
The speaker, in an appeal filed at the Mombasa law court which was heard on Thursday, wants the administrator punished as an individual for calling him a suspected drug baron.
Khatri sued Marwa in January after he called him a suspected drug baron during a press conference he held with Mombasa journalists.
[caption caption="Mombasa speaker Aharub Khatri"]
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However, Judge Njoki Mwangi struck out Marwa's name from the suit, stating that Marwa had uttered the words as a public officer and not at a personal level.
In her ruling, Mwangi replaced Marwa with the Attorney General and further allowed the joinder of the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP).
However, Khatri, through Balala and Abed Advocates, told the three-judge bench that Judge Mwangi erred in striking out Marwa’s name from the suit.
The speaker maintained that the judge erred by failing to appreciate that the cause of action in the suit was defamation by Marwa.
He further stated during the hearing that he wanted compensation for defamation and an apology from the administrator.
[caption caption="Coast regional coordinator Nelson Marwa"]
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The speaker further noted that he did not want to be compensated using taxpayers money yet the crime was committed on a personal level.
However, the office of the DPP and the AG urged the appeal judges to dismiss the appeal as they argued it lacked merit.
In their defence, the DPP maintained that the entire suit was choreographed to subject Marwa to public odium, contempt, and besmirch his character as a dedicated public servant.
