Miguna Demands Sh75 Million From Sonko in Defamation Showdown

Lawyer Miguna Miguna is seeking Sh75 million in compensation from former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko in a defamation suit filed in Kenya, the Daily Nation has reported. The claim sets two of the country's best-known political figures against each other in a legal battle over reputation, with Miguna asking a Kenyan court to order Sonko to pay him the money in damages.

The lawsuit has been lodged in Kenya, where both men have spent decades in public life, much of it centred on Nairobi, the capital. Their careers have crossed repeatedly in law, electoral politics and the country's online political debates, and both have been frequent litigants in Kenyan courtrooms over the years.

Miguna trained as a lawyer and worked as a senior adviser to former Prime Minister Raila Odinga during the Grand Coalition Government formed after the disputed 2007 election. He later fell out with Odinga and in 2012 published Peeling Back the Mask, a memoir sharply critical of the former prime minister's office and inner circle.

In the 2017 general election, Miguna ran for Governor of Nairobi as an independent candidate in a race won by Sonko. Months later, in January 2018, he administered a symbolic oath to Odinga as the people's president at a ceremony at Uhuru Park in Nairobi, an event the government of then-President Uhuru Kenyatta treated as a threat to national security.

Miguna was arrested within days, and in early February 2018 he was deported to Canada, where he also holds citizenship, after the state argued that he had renounced his Kenyan citizenship decades earlier. Kenyan courts later declared the deportation unconstitutional, ordered the state to return his passport and awarded him damages, but attempts to fly back to Nairobi in 2020 were blocked on arrival and he spent more than five years in exile.

He finally returned home in October 2023 after being issued with a new Kenyan passport, and he has since re-established himself as one of the loudest voices in Kenyan political commentary, particularly on social media, where his posts routinely draw large audiences.

Sonko, whose full name is Michael Mbuvi Sonko, first entered Parliament as the member for Nairobi's Makadara constituency and went on to serve as Senator for Nairobi between 2013 and 2017. In August 2017 he was elected Governor of Nairobi County, defeating the incumbent, Evans Kidero.

His time at City Hall ended in December 2020, when the Nairobi County Assembly voted to impeach him on grounds that included abuse of office and violation of the constitution, and the Senate upheld the removal. Sonko denied wrongdoing. He separately faced corruption charges in 2019 over county contracts, which he also denied, and he has remained active in national politics and a constant presence on social media, known for his flamboyant gold-themed dress and public displays of generosity.

The 2017 governor race placed the two men in direct competition for Nairobi's top county job, and in the years since, both have cultivated reputations for blunt commentary and public attacks on political rivals, exchanges that have frequently played out online for audiences of thousands.

Under Kenyan law, defamation claims are governed by the Defamation Act and are heard by the High Court, which weighs factors such as the seriousness of the statements complained of, the extent of their publication and the standing of the claimant when assessing compensation. Courts are not bound by the sums pleaded and may award more or less than the amount sought, depending on the evidence and arguments presented at trial. Defamation claims involving politicians have featured repeatedly in Kenyan courtrooms in recent years as political battles increasingly spill onto social media platforms.

The Daily Nation report did not set out the specific statements at the centre of the suit, the date it was filed or any response from Sonko, and no hearing date was given.