Youth Affairs, Creative Economy, and Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba has donated Ksh 9 million he was awarded by the court as damages to charity.
Namwamba was awarded the amount by the High Court of Kenya in Nairobi as damages against the Standard Media Group following defamatory stories published by the Nairobian Newspaper in 2018.
He said,
“It is a tiny measure of relief for the utter horror endured in the five long years the wheels of justice have ground on. But it is well.”
He added that the court’s decision is a valuable lesson to journalists and the media to ensure they maintain responsible reporting based on facts.
The Nairobian admitted that they published lies and fabrications based on fake sources.
The judge handling Namwamba’s case observed,
“They further submitted that at the time of the publication, they believed the stories were true and only discovered later that the interviewees were imposters and the information was false.”
As he celebrated his birthday on December 23, Namwamba donated the entire Ksh 9 million to his charity organization called Ababu Namwamba Foundation (ANF).
The funds are meant to support fees for vulnerable students and to empower transformative youth initiatives.