Piece by: ASHLEY OTIENO

30 May 2023

• This is what you should know about defamation and how you can defend yourself from such a lawsuit.

• Defamation involves publishing a statement that is considered false and has the intention of ruining one's reputation and has been seen by more than one person.

A section of Kenyan bloggers have been sued for defamation and things have not been easy - from legal fees to court appearances.

Some have been sued by celebrities or influencers for revealing private information about them that they didn't want to be made public.

For you to actually win the defamation case you have to sue and not just for the sake but understand what defamation is according to Kenyan law.

Here are some things you should know about defamation;

Defamation involves publishing a statement that is considered false and has the intention of ruining one's reputation and has been seen by more than one person.

For you to sue for defamation, you have to prove that the statement made was ;

Defamatory.
Referred to you.
It was published.
It was malicious.

In cases of malice, it means if the statement made by the person was false and that person knew it was false but still published it without proving the truth of the statement.

So it all lies on whoever is making the complaint to prove that the statements made had the effects mentioned above.

Also, the person being accused has to prove that the matter was of public interest and that whatever was said was a fair comment on the matter.

"A defamatory statement is presumed to be false unless the defendant can prove its truth. Defamation law puts the burden of proving the truth of allegedly defamatory statements on the defendant, rather than the plaintiff."

The following are the defenses one can use against a defamation lawsuit.

You have to justify that the words said were true and did not cause any injury to the victim.
There's the matter of absolute privilege whereby which relates to reporting court or parliamentary proceedings.
There's qualified privilege whereby reporting about conflicting parties or an issue does not make the other party look guilty or get any slander from the receivers of the information.
You can defend yourself also on the basis of the matter being of public interest and whatever was said was fair comment.