Nairobi Law Monthly, Publisher Ahmednassir Abdullahi Ordered To Pay Miguna Miguna Ksh 1.4 Million And Apologise

Nairobi Law Monthly, Publisher Ahmednassir Abdullahi Ordered To Pay Miguna Miguna Ksh 1.4 Million And Apologise

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JACKAL NEWS – State-funded Media Council of Kenya (MCK) has ordered Nairobi Law Monthly and its publisher, lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi to pay maverick lawyer Miguna Miguna some Ksh 1.4 million and apologise for portraying in bad light, according to documents seen by the Jackal News.

But the firebrand former Law Society of Kenya chairman is expected to fight off the orders.

In addition, the MCK’s complaints commission ordered the monthly magazine to retract the story published in the November issue at page 17 titled “Miguna loses it again”, and offer an apology with similar prominence given to the offending story, according to the documents.

The magazine had claimed that Miguna Miguna, who was one of Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s advisors, had “The session came four months after Mr. Miguna shamed the country at a conference reviewing operations of the International Criminal Court( ICC) in Kampala, Uganda. During the incident, Mr. Miguna was reportedly shouted out of a session when he attempted to object to Mr Wako’s presentation in front of international delegates”

That Miguna Miguna, as “Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Special Adviser on Coalition Affairs, Miguna Miguna , was involved in an ugly spat with Public Service Minister Dalmas Otieno, when he gate crashed an invite-only event for Permanent Secretaries”

And that Miguna Miguna in “The morning session was open to the public, but the Minister demanded that the mid-morning session- after the break- be exclusive to PSs and facilitators from the Committee of Experts. However, Mr Miguna showed up. The Minister reminded him the meeting was only for PSs but he declined to leave, saying he had been sent by the PM to attend the seminar”

Miguna Miguna, “At this point, Mr Otieno and Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura summoned the police to throw him out. Security officers had been called in but he left before they could arrive. But it was terrible, said one of the participants”

When asked to apologise, Abdullahi responded in an email dated 12/11/2010, saying “Thanks for your letter. There are nothing defamatory in the letter. We are neither retracting nor apologizing” It is therefore safe to conclude that, being the editor in chief, he knew the contents of and sanctioned the publication of the said article, the documents show.

Miguna Miguna told the commission that all these allegations were false and the panel agreed, thus making the ruling:

“ Both the Complainant (Miguna Miguna) and the Respondents’ advocates  to agree on a draft statement retracting the offending story and offering an apology to the complainant within 14 days from today, and further agree on a date for publication of the statement within 21 days of the date of judgment. In the event of failure, matter is to be mentioned before the Commission for further orders. Either party is at liberty to apply,” according to the orders that were released on Thursday last week.

Miguna Miguna, who has since gone ballistic over his former boss’s alleged dictatorial tendencies and is in the process of publishing a tell-all book on Odinga. It’s unlikely that Abdullahi will take the orders lying down.