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Bonfire Adventures chairman and CEO Simon Kabu and his enstranged wife Sarah Kabu when they arrived at the Windsor Golf & Country Club hotel, Nairobi to watch the screening of the Royal wedding of the Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle in Windsor, Britain. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]
Bonfire Adventures Chief Executive Officer Simon Kabu has sued his estranged wife Sarah Njoki for defamation.
The two have been managing the reputable tours and travel company since they co-founded it in 2007.
In his petition through lawyer Judith Kamoing’, Kabu wants Justice Janet Mulwa to order Njoki to publicly apologise and retract alleged defamatory statements and posts on social media.
“The apology should be made through the same platforms used to disseminate the defamatory content,” Mr Kabu deposes.
Kabu wants damages for libel, malicious falsehoods and harm caused to his reputation.
He is seeking aggravated and exemplary damages to ensure Njoki accounts for her alleged malicious, reckless, and deliberate actions.
“The defendant (Njoki) should compensate the plaintiff (Kabu) for mental anguish and embarrassment suffered,” reads Kamoing’s petition.
Further, Kabu wants a permanent injunction restraining Njoki from publishing or disseminating the alleged defamatory statements to blogs, social media or press briefs.
“The defendant should be compelled to pull down and expunge from all forms of media any defamatory statements relating to the plaintiff,” submits Kamoing’.
Kabu states that Njoki is his estranged spouse as they are judicially separated and have divorce proceedings before a Chief Magistrate’s court in Kiambu.
He accuses her of continuously circulating an Internal Memo dated December 18, 2024 which falsely accused him of conflict of interest, mismanagement, malice, inappropriate relationships with employees, assault, among others.
“The respondent has falsely claimed that the plaintiff is not the founder of the company, resulting in gross insubordination among employees, loss of clients, and cancelled business engagements,” Kamoing’ states.
According to Kabu, the statement escalated on December 18, 2024, when Njoki purported to circulate the memo to a WhatsApp group of 150 employees.
The memo accused Kabu of undermining the operations of the company to damage its reputation and interest, by allegedly diverting clients and employees to a new company he is starting.
“The plaintiff is apprehensive that circulating the memo is a ploy to throw him out of the company and escalate the gross insubordination to create a hostile work environment for him,” Kamoing’ alleges.
Further, Kabu claims that Njoki has falsely accused him of gender-based violence, corruption, and other criminal acts.
“She claimed he had the capability of enforcing forced abductions, disappearance and killings to any dissenters,” Kamoing’ further submits.
Kabu attached several instances depicting the alleged defamation, including transcribed CCTV footage of November 21, 2024, during the company’s staff meeting.
In the footage, Njoki allegedly accused Kabu of starting a new company with the daughter to bring conflict of interest in the company.
Another footage was of November 20, 2024, when she allegedly accused him of being a mole in the company, engaging in unethical ‘cartel-like’ activities and working actively to destroy the company.
He also attached a social media post of December 6, 2024.
The case will be heard inter-party on February 3, 2025.
The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media
platforms spanning newspaper print operations, television, radio broadcasting,
digital and online services. The Standard Group is recognized as a leading
multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and
international interest.
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