Judge issues warrant of arrest against blogger Nyakundi

A blogger accused of publishing defamatory information against the chief executive officer (CEO) of a telecommunications company is facing arrest after failing to appear in court on Wednesday.

High Court Judge Lucy Njuguna on Wednesday issued a warrant of arrest against Cyprian Nyakundi, stating that he should be arrested and presented in court so that punishment can be meted out against him. The judge had late last year found Mr Nyakundi to have acted in contempt of court for publishing information about Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore.

“A warrant of arrest is hereby issued against Mr Nyakundi, it is to be enforced and he must be brought to court for sentencing,” the judge said.

The blogger has failed to appear in court several times for the case and was at one time summoned to explain why he continued to publish alleged defamatory information after an order had already been issued stopping him from doing so.

The dispute started in June 2016 when Mr Collymore and his predecessor Michael Joseph sued the blogger for publishing alleged defamatory statements about them while linking them to bribery.

Justice Njuguna also issued a temporary order stopping Mr Nyakundi from making any further publications on his blog about the two.

However, the blogger told the court that he had not been served with the case documents or the order.

When he was summoned to appear in court in person to explain himself, he apologised. But despite the apology, he published an article on August 1, 2016, which prompted the two to take the matter to court again.