Devolution Principal Secretary Nelson Marwa has been sued for defamation by the Mombasa County Assembly Speaker Harub Ebrahim Kharti, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
Mr Kharti sued Marwa in January 2017 for linking him to drug trafficking and illegal gun possession following his arrest.
Kharti's arrest in his house sparked a standoff between Marwa and Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho, when the governor stormed the Coast Regional Police Headquarters demanding his ally's release.
On March 14 last year, High Court judge Njoki Mwangi ruled that Marwa could not be sued for remarks made in his capacity as Coast Regional Co-ordinator since he was guided by the provisions of the Government Proceedings Act.
The judge ruled in Marwa’s favor following an application by the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions, who reiterated that under the National Government Co-ordination Act, Marwa could not be sued for defamation in his personal capacity because he echoed the said defamatory words as the Coast Regional Co-ordinator.
The AG and DPP did not deny that Marwa uttered the alleged defamatory words, but instead sought a finding that State officials could not be sued in person for such words when acting for the Government.
The Court of Appeal yesterday ruled that the Government Proceedings Act only indemnified State officials acting in good faith and when such acts were proved to be Government policy, which could only be determined through a full trial.