The ongoing war of words between Machakos Governor, Alfred Mutua, and Boniface Mwangi has taken a new twist after a court sitting in Machakos on Tuesday, October 26, ordered the activist to refrain from publishing any defamatory information about the county boss.
Boniface Mwangi had accused Mutua of destroying his Lukenya family home that is still under construction, allegations the governor disputed, instead accusing the activist of peddling lies and defaming him.
Lady Justice Margaret Waringa Muigai, granted an interim injunction restraining Mwangi from publishing any defamatory claims against the governor.
The judge noted that the application shall be served to the activist, upon which he should respond within 14 days of service.
"The court has hereby restrained the respondent (Boniface Mwangi) by himself, his servants, and or agents or otherwise howsoever, from publishing in any print or electronic media, or web-hosted platform, any innuendos, insinuations, allegations, or statements that the plaintiff either as having destroyed actually caused damage to the Defendant's house in Lukenya," read part of the court statement.
The judge also referred to a video posted on Mwangi's Facebook page on Thursday, October 21, where the activist, in a gloves-off manner, accused Mutua for the damage caused to his house.
Mwangi reiterated that the governor should be held liable for his actions - noting that he was not afraid of the state power that Mutua yields in his arsenal.
In a rejoinder, Mutua demanded an apology from the activist for circulating libelous content widely across social media.
“The said publication has also been shared online with various social media outlets with your consent and approval and will very likely be archived in social and mainstream media archives section, where any person doing research and or background searches on our client would gain access to the libelous,” read part of a demand letter dated Thursday, October 21.
Through his lawyers, Mutua instructed the activist to follow their demands, failure to which they would institute legal proceedings against him.
“That you retract and pull down all of the said libelous and defamatory publications, of and concerning our client in the same prominence as in the offensive publications.”
"That at your expense, you publish an apology to our client in wording and manner approved by our client, and in the same prominence as the offending publications,” the demand letter added.
