national bank of Kenya Takes Blogger to court for “Defamatory” blog Posts 1

national bank

A Kenyan blogger Cyprian Nyakundi is being sued for utilizing Kenya’s countrywide bank for writing a chain of posts about alleged corruption at the bank, which the a’s foremost monetary group deemed defamatory. His courtroom case began this month.

In March this yr, the national bank of Kenya (NBK) requested the Governor of the relevant financial institution of Kenya and the Cabinet Secretary for ICT to intrude in instances of online defamation of banks.

The bank expressed concern over social media customers spreading malicious and fake data about banks and different business firms in Kenya because the financial system faces challenging times.

The bank also wrote to the Media Council to determine if the council has jurisdiction over blogging and is known as the industry lobby, and affected groups, too, are looking for an enduring legislative approach to problems arising from “unregulated blogging” and social media use.

The financial institution took controversial blogger Cyprian Nyakundi to court docket this month following a series of posts approximately the bank. Nyakundi describes himself as a “Kenyan-based blogger interested in politics, governance, corporate fraud, and human-interest memories.”

The financial institution initially crammed an ex parte motion asking the courtroom to bar him from writing approximately the bank on his weblog, Twitter account, or other social media systems.

On June 6, the courtroom granted an interim injunction and allowed NBK to furnish the blogger with a courtroom summons via newspaper advertisements, email, and the WhatsApp account.

In Kenya, an interim injunction is granted through a court docket for a positive period to restrain a party from performing a sure act. It’s far not unusual practice in defamation instances.

The first listening to turned on June 16.

One of the articles in the query alleges looting of the financial institution by using senior executives. NBK suspended six pinnacle executives, such as its CEO, earlier this yr to permit an audit following growth in terrible debt.

Nyakundi is going through other separate instances of defamation.

In June 2015, Safaricom, Kenya’s largest mobile telephone employer, sued him for defamation. The business enterprise additionally managed to get a restraining order on him from further publishing different defamatory articles approximately it and an obligatory injunction to pull down from his blog all the articles defaming Safaricom.

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In September 2015, Nyakundi was sued for defamation by Kenyan businessman Vimal Shah.

Observers of Nyakundi’s case are uncertain whether he is a blogger-for-hire being deployed in inter-company wars in Kenya or a harmless financial analyst focused on using huge agencies to serve as an instance to different bloggers and social media customers writing memories on economic topics.

Whatever the fact, the bank’s idea to shore up corporate reputations thru new legislation bodes ominously for freedom of speech inside the East African usa of over forty-five million people.