Itumbi bullish in response to Justice Lenaola’s apology demand
State House Digital Director Dennis Itumbi has responded to a threat by Supreme Court Judge Isaac Lenaola to sue him over tweets and posts the judge terms as defamatory.
In a letter, Mr Itumbi refused to apologise to the judge over the tweets and declared his willingness to face trial.
Justice Lenaola, through his lawyer Donald Kipkorir, had given Mr Itumbi three days to delete all tweets and apologise to him, failure to which he threatened to move to court.
GROSS MISCONDUCT
But in his response, Mr Itumbi argues that he simply shared contents of a petition filed before the Judiciary Service Commission by Derrick Malika Ngumu that seeks the removal of the judge on account of gross misconduct.
“The petition is widely circulated through various media including social media platforms and is subject of considerable public discourse,” he responded through his lawyer Moses Chelanga.
“Our client denies the allegations that he published defamatory or false information about yours on the Twitter handle @oleitumbi or Facebook page Dennis Itumbi… under #WakoraNetwork or at all. Any comments that may have been made by our client simply rehashed and regurgitated the content of the petition.”
The petition, among other things, claims Justice Lenaola was in contact and communication with parties involved in the presidential election petition while the case was still active.
THICK SKINNED
“Your client ought to be thck skinned enough to accommodate others’ right to have unflattering opinion of him in his public duty,” Mr Itumbi stated.
Judge Lenaola has also written to Standard Media Group demanding an apology over a story the newspaper published on September 19, alleging that he contacted some lawyers and agents during the hearing of the presidential petition that saw President Kenyatta’s victory quashed.
The judge said the paper published the story before the petition was filed by Derrick Malika Ngumu of Angaza Empowerment Network.