The Milimani Commercial Magistrate’s Court has awarded Ksh2 million in damages to Josphat Koli Nanok, the Deputy Chief of Staff in the Executive Office of the President and former Turkana Governor, after ruling that Nation Media Group defamed him in a Daily Nation newspaper article.
In a judgment delivered by Chief Magistrate Thomas Nzyoki, the court found that the article, published on August 4, 2020, falsely portrayed Nanok as supporting the controversial Third Generation Revenue Allocation Formula. The publication had attributed a fabricated statement to him: “I support this formula because it will foster development since we will be given more money.”
Nanok, through lawyer Phillip Nyachoti, told the court that he had, in fact, strongly opposed the proposed revenue-sharing formula. He noted that the framework would have slashed Turkana County’s allocation by approximately Ksh324 million.
Nanok argued that the publication falsely depicted him as greedy, deceitful, and ignorant of the revenue formula, which severely damaged his reputation while he served as Governor of Turkana County.
Nation Media Group admitted publishing the article but denied that it was defamatory. The media house argued that the report amounted to fair comment on a matter of public interest and was protected by qualified privilege. The publisher also relied on a clarification and apology it ran two days later, which acknowledged that the paper had wrongly identified Nanok as supporting the formula and apologized for the error.
However, Chief Magistrate Nzyoki held that the apology amounted to a direct admission that the publication was false. The court further found that Nation Media failed to verify Nanok’s position before publication and did not seek his comments, a failure that justified an inference of malice.
The magistrate ruled that an ordinary reader would understand the article to mean that Nanok supported the revenue-sharing formula for personal gain, was deceitful about his position, and lacked an understanding of the formula. Those meanings, the court said, were defamatory and lowered his reputation in the eyes of right-thinking members of society.
Nanok had sought Ksh10 million in general damages and another Ksh10 million in exemplary damages, but the court deemed these requests excessive. When assessing the appropriate award, the magistrate considered Nanok’s public standing, the wide circulation of the publication, and the fact that Nation Media had issued an apology shortly after the story appeared.
Consequently, the court awarded Nanok Ksh2 million in general damages but declined to grant exemplary damages.
The magistrate also rejected Nanok’s request for a permanent injunction to restrain future defamatory publications, ruling that any future defamation would constitute a separate legal issue. Furthermore, the court found the previously published apology sufficient, rendering a fresh order for an apology unnecessary.
Ultimately, the court entered judgment in favour of Nanok for Ksh2 million in general damages, plus interest from the date of the judgment, the costs of the suit, and a 30-day stay of execution.
