An activist and journalist who Deputy President William Ruto dragged to court over alleged offensive posts on social media has termed the move as a strategy to silence his critics.
In a response to the defamation suit filed by the Deputy President, Mr Boniface Mwangi claims that his posts on Twitter were a fair comment and justified.
Through his lawyer Gitobu Imanyara, Mr Mwangi termed the defamation case against him as scandalous saying that the Deputy President is not worthy of being protected by the court.
Mr Mwangi has accused Mr Ruto of portraying him as alcohol dependant, one with loose morals and unfit to hold office yet he has won more than 20 awards from 2004 to date for his works.
“As a consequence of the publication of the Deputy President’s remarks, his reputation has been seriously damaged, he has suffered distress and embarrassment,” Mr Imanyara said.
In the case documents, the activist listed some of the things that have contributed to massive comments from the public about the Deputy President.
He alleges that Mr Ruto committed crimes against humanity since the International Criminal Court found sufficient evidence against him on four charges.
He insists that Mr Ruto’s case at ICC was merely terminated due to witness intimidation and interference, among other reasons, leading to his acquittal.
He terms the fact that there are pending warrant of arrests for journalist Walter Baraza, Phillip Gicheru and Paul Bett over witness interference is an indication that the matter is still alive.
Mr Mwangi claims that the DP has been in leaderships which have faced allegations of enforcing extra-judicial killings and disappearance.
He has further cited the DP’s links to corrupt land deals naming Mr Adrian Muteshi and Weston hotel as some of the cases that link him to land grabbing.
He has further linked him to a 2010 maize scandal which occurred when he was the Agriculture minister, the death of the late Jacob Juma and this year’s Info track 2016 survey that ranks DP’s office as most corrupt.
According to Mr Mwangi, the definition of Mr Ruto’s alleged nick name ‘Hustler’ means ‘thief’ as per the online etymology dictionary.
He, therefore, wants it declared that Mr Ruto violated the Leadership & Integrity Act as well as the Public Officers Ethics Act.
He also wants him declared unfit to hold office, be ordered to pay him damages as well as costs of the suit.
-nation.co.ke
