Safaricom sues blogger Cyprian Nyakundi over defamation

Controversial blogger Cyprian Nyakundi has been sued for defamation by giant Kenyan teleco Safaricom. In a summons published in Wednesday’s local dailies, Safaricom listed the offensive articles terming them as ‘unsubstantial and unsupported’.

In the suit, Safaricom states that the popular blogger has begun a 15-part expose on their operations that portrays the company as ‘a thief and a fraud, obtaining money and airtime from its subscribers through non-existent subscriptions’.

In the case filed by Ogeto, Otachi and Company Advocates, Safaricom decrys an article Your Privacy and Safaricom are two different                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               worlds. The post, allegedly published by Nyakundi, states that Safaricom is wantonly infringing on its subscribers’ privacy.

According to the summons, Safaricom alleges that Nyakundi accused them of firing their staff for falling ill. They go further to state that the articles he published relate to ongoing matters at the courts.

When Citizen Digital checked Cyprian Nyakundi’s site, we found that some of the articles listed were still visible.

The blogger, who has been given 15 days to appear in court, has yet to publicly respond to the suit. He has, however, re-tweeted those who have posted messages in his support.

This is not the first time that Cyprian Nyakundi has gotten into trouble for his writing. He rose to fame in 2012 when he was allegedly kicked out of Meru University for his social media posts. Kenyans on Twitter, rallied by ‘Twitter big-wig’ Robert Alai started an online campaign in his support.