Mombasa Law Courts. Photo/payne-james.co.uk
Mombasa speaker Aharub Khatri on Thursday moved to the Mombasa Law Court seeking orders to have Coast regional coordinator Nelson Marwa joined in his defamation suit.
Mr Khatri was in court seeking to sue Mr Marwa for linking him to drug trafficking.
Mr Khatri had alleged that during the press conference held on 14th January 2017, at Mombasa police headquarter’s, Mr Marwa uttered defamatory statements against him saying he was a drug baron.
However, Lady Justice Njoki Mwangi ordered the name of Mr Marwa struck out of the defamation case and in her ruling said that during the press conference, Mr Marwa was dressed in uniform and it is evidence he was on official duty.
Justice Mwangi during the ruling directed Mr Khatri to amend the plaint and file a lawsuit against the office of the Attorney General.
The judge also allowed the office of Director of Public Prosecution to enjoin in the suit as the interested party.
During the Thursday hearing, Mr Khatri told the three-judge bench that Justice Mwangi erred in striking out Mr Marwa’s name from the suit.
Assistant DPP Alexander Muteti urged the court to dismiss the appeal saying it lacks merit adding that the trial judge made her ruling after being satisfied that the utterances were made during an official duty.
The speaker wants to be compensated for defamation and that the regional coordinator issue an apology.