Court orders blogger Nyakundi to justify continued defamation of Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore

The High Court in Nairobi has directed controversial blogger Cyprian Nyakundi to justify his continued defamation of Safaricom boss Bob Collymore before appropriate punishment against him is considered on January 31.

In her ruling, Justice Mwihaki Njuguna further directed Nyakundi to file a sworn statement and provide copies to lawyers representing Collymore who have protested that the blogger has not demonstrated any remorse after he was found guilty of deliberately disobeying court orders restraining him from publishing offending articles on social media on December 1^st 2016.

The Judge observed that the integrity of the judicial process was likely to be undermined after Collymore’s lawyers complained that Nyakundi has repeatedly posted tweets on his personal platform in total disregard of court sanctions.

On his part, Nyakundi claimed that it was unprocedural to introduce new evidence on a matter that was pending adjudication.

Collymore is seeking orders to have Nyakundi committed to civil jail for disobeying an injunction issued on July 18,2016, blocking him from publishing defamatory articles concerning corruption in the media industry in Kenya.

The blogger reportedly carried the offending story on August 1, last year, and failed to apologize and withdraw it.

The Judge has extended the sanctions imposed on Nyakundi to keep off commenting about the contentious issue pending his mitigation and sentencing.