Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has issued a notice threatening to sue Deputy President William Ruto’s blogger Dennis Itumbi over his tweets that he claims are defamatory.

Matiang’i accused Itumbi of calling him “the Ruaraka land thief and Ruaraka thief” in his posts and he wants him to delete the tweets. 

The CS, through his lawyers, demanded that Itumbi pulls down all his tweets in which he referred to the CS as a thief.

Matiang’i is also demanding an unconditional apology from Itumbi for the posts. 

"Our client further demands an unconditional apology for the defamatory statements published via your verified Twitter account in a manner to be approved by our client," said the CS through his lawyer.

Read More

  1. Kenya unveils electronic ID card in landmark registration overhaul
  2. Musalia Mudavadi directs urgent crackdown on unsafe PSVs ahead of festive season
  3. Govt rolls out major JKIA reforms to elevate passenger experience

He added, “We are further instructed to demand as we hereby do your immediate admission of liability whereupon our client shall engage you on the quantum of damages and any other retribution for your defamatory publications.” 

Matiang’i issued an ultimatum to the blogger demanding that he complies by Friday failure to which the CS would seek legal redress.

The CS noted that Itumbi published a series of highly defamatory materials on different dates between July 9 and August 9.

According to Matiang’i’s lawyers, Itumbi’s tweet had attracted 732 likes, 103 retweets and 5 quoted tweets by August 11.

“This defamatory statement has resulted in 103 retweets, 5 quote tweets and 732 likes as of 11th August 2021,” said the CS.

His lawyers also said the use of the words was a deliberate misinterpretation of facts published and are intent on causing harm to the reputation of the CS.

"The series of defamatory tweets were published in full awareness and cognizance of the facts pertaining to the subject matter of your defamatory statement," they added.

In 2020, an anti-corruption court dismissed Itumbi’s application, seeking to be allowed to prosecute Matiang’i over the Ruaraka land case. 

The court said Itumbi had failed to explain how he accessed the information or documents in the affidavits he wanted to use against Matiang’i.