The row between Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and Marble Arch Hotel owner Mike Maina has escalated into a court case following remarks he made against the tycoon while on Citizen TV's JKLive show.
According to court papers, Maina accused Royal Media Services (RMS), JKLive host Jeff Koinange and the governor of defaming him during a show in which Sonko was the guest.
In the suit, Koinange and RMS were listed as defendants while Sonko was a proposed third party.
Maina, through his lawyer Njenga Njehia, accused the media house of granting the governor a platform to slander him and that Koinange, despite acknowledging that Sonko's utterances were in bad taste, still gave him the airtime to carry on.
He further disclosed that he, together with his brands, was portrayed as a thief, a land-grabber and possessing questionable integrity especially when the governor claimed his hotel stood on the county's land.
“As a consequence of this, the plaintiffs have been brought to public hatred, pillory, ridicule, contempt, odium and will be disgraced, humiliated, subjected to untold embarrassment and ostracised,” Nairobi News quoted the plaintiff's statement.
In their defense, however, RMS and Koinange argued that they issued a disclaimer at the beginning and during the show stating that the views of their guest were strictly his and not of the entire media house.
They further divulged that they tried to control Sonko during their live show but it was challenging.
Sonko and Maina have had a contention especially after the governor, in 2018, made good his threat to demolish structures belonging to the tycoon and brought down the toilets along a pavement near Marble Arch Hotel.
The billionaire filed the suit through two of his companies Marble Arch Hotel and Muthithi Investment.
