By Grace Gilo
According to the lawsuit filed today at The High Court of Kenya, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has sued Standard Group and Jerotich Seii. He is demanding one hundred million shillings as compensation over alleged defamation whereby Jerotich Seii had been invited as a guest speaker on “The Situation Room” show aired by Spice FM which is one of the radio stations owned by Standard Group PLC.
As per the charge sheet seen by KUTV, it was during the said show that Seii reportedly changed the platform to a one-sided bashing party uttering ‘defamatory slander of extreme nature’ against the plaintiff.
“…the community are organised, they do public participation informing the developers that you are not going to construct here send them away somehow, these guys end up getting permission/permits that they require and finally after launching the association and going to visit the Governor Sakaja in his office, the following day all permits were issued and they are excavating as we speak…” According to the file case, these are the words that were uttered by Jerotich.
As per the filed case, nobody attempted to stop Seii from continuing to use the platform provided to perpetrate the slander that she had delved into, and neither did they attempt to reach out to the governor to inform him of the allegations against his person and as such in the least at least get his rejoinder or side of the story.
The document stated that the accused was questioned whether she had raised the concerns she was raising through the office of the Governor and she stated that; “Yes I have raised the said concerns with the Chief Executive Officer Nairobi County, Governor Sakaja himself…I have raised it directly he does not take my calls anymore, I have taken it to X and he has not interacted with the said debate, he is absent. However, you will see him launching the Chinese Property Development Association and telling them how wonderful it is to, welcome the city we shall facilitate you but his voters, the people whom he swore to serve are not engaging them where is he? Governor Sakaja uko wapi? Mbona umekimya?”
Jerotich Seii accused Governor Sakaja of neglecting voters who voted for him and leaving WhatsApp groups to avoid accountability.
According to Sakaja’s lawyers, the governor had been falsely accused of manipulating the systems in favour of the Chinese Developer Association, of being bribed by the Chinese Developer Association hence the issuance of permits, abusing power and betraying the public trust bestowed on him amongst other accusations.