This archive report was first published on 9 January 2020.
Kenyan journalist Jeff Koinange is widely regarded as one of the country's most accomplished and beloved journalists. However, a recent exchange between Koinange and lawyer Miguna Miguna has brought to light a lesser-known aspect of Koinange's career.
On January 9, 2020, Miguna Miguna appeared on JKLive from Berlin, Germany, where he jokingly reminded Koinange of a past incident in which he cried like a baby after being sued by businessman Jimmy Wanjigi.
According to Miguna, Koinange was arrested on May 19, 2015, and was released on a Ksh 100,000 bail just a few hours later. However, the journalist was not out of the woods yet, as he was also slapped with a Ksh 2 million fine or a six-month jail term for the defamation case.
Despite the court's ruling, Koinange and his co-defendant, Toni Gachoka, appealed the fine and were eventually vindicated by the High Court in 2017. The court ruled that the fine was wrongly imposed and violated their right to a fair trial.
It is worth noting that Koinange's actions in 2015 were in direct contravention of a court order obtained by Wanjigi in 2015, which barred Koinange from discussing and linking Wanjigi's name and that of his family to the multi-billion Anglo Leasing Scandal.
Despite the controversy surrounding the incident, Koinange has continued to build a reputation as one of Kenya's most respected journalists.
