Eugene Ludovic Wamalwa, the outgoing Cabinet Secretary of the Republic of Kenya’s Ministry of Defense, is suing over a tweet, claiming libel.
In documents seen by Uzalendo News on Friday, September 9, 2022, CS Wamalwa sued Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi over a tweet sent on September 8, 2022, demanding that Wamalwa and others explain to Kenya how 1,500 Kenyans were extra-judicially killed under their command.
“In the coming months these FIVE men must explain to KENYANS and the WORLD the process/procedures on how over 1500 KENYANS were extrajudicially killed by police and military officers under their command…Did they give the orders or were they were acting on orders from above?” Ahmednasir posted on Twitter.
Eugene, through his lawyers KTK Advocates, stated in the letter to Ahmednasir that by tweeting as he did, the Senior Counsel was understood to have meant that Wamalwa was complicit in the said extra-judicial killings, that Wamalwa is a murderer and a criminal, and that the CS was involved in international crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity, among other deductions.
Wamalwa’s lawyer, Donald B. Kipkorir, went on to say that the tweet put his client at risk of mob lynching and violated the CS’s rights to innocence and due process.
“Our instructions are to demand, which we hereby do: – immediate deletion of the said tweet, unqualified apology to our client and discussion on quantum payable to our client,” read the letter.
He was given 24 hours to comply with the demands after receiving this notice via email.
Ahmednassir’s tweet was still live on his Twitter account as of Friday morning, 7:30 a.m., with 1,229 retweets and 5,967 likes. On Twitter, Ahmednasir has 1.8 million followers.
Ahmednassir mentioned Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi, Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai, Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti, and National Intelligence Service Director General Philip Kameru in addition to Wamalwa.
