BY SAM ALFAN.
Former Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) secretary Hezekiel Oira has lost a bid to revive a defamation case against the Standard Group arising from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa in which the national broadcaster lost millions.
The former corporation secretary sued the media house following investigation into the fiasco.
Oira had complained that the article published by the Standard Newspaper, titled, “How KBC lost Ksh 110 million World Cup Deal to Competitor”, was defamatory.
The case was dismissed by High Court judge Reseline Aburili but unsatisfied, Oira appealed against the decision.
Court of Appeal Judges Wanjiru Karanja, Hannah Okwengu and Asike Mukhandia upheld the decision dismissing the case saying the appeal had no merit.
“As we have endeavored to show, the impugned article reflected true reporting of what was going on at KBC, a state corporation in a matter in which the respondents as members of the fourth estate had a constitutional right to inform the public, subject of course, to respect and protection of the reputation of others,” the judges said.
The court ruled that the media house and it’s reporter James Ratemo were protected by the defence of justification as what was published was exactly what was happening in a matter of public interest.
Judges said the failure to prove the negative opinion of right thinking members of the society arising from the article, was another critical ingredient of the tort of defamation that was not established.
They said it was not enough for Oira to make the allegations in his pleadings, he had to go further by proving the effect of the article in lowering his estimation in the eyes of ‘right thinking members’ of the society as he alleged.
The three judges said Oira failed to show that the article contained untruthful statements or that it was made maliciously or that it lowered his esteem in the eyes of right thinking members of the society.
Justice Aburili had said he would have awarded Oira Sh6 million had he proved that the article was defamatory.
The article alleged in part that the Government had lost an opportunity to recover Sh 75 Million spent to buy broadcasting rights of the 2010 World Cup that was held in South Africa.
The government had attributed the loss to alleged impropriety by KBC officials, leading to the suspension of Oira and the managing director.
The article quoted the then Information and Communication Permanent Secretary – Bitange Ndemo stating that KBC had been given Sh75 million to buy the World Cup rights, and was expected to raise the amount through advertising.
The trial court noted that the writer must have obtained the information from an interview with the PS and Ratemo merely reported what factually led to Oira’s suspension and what resulted in his being charged in court.
