Machakos governor Alfred Mutua has been ordered by the appellate court to pay Nation Media Group (NMG) Sh 12 million in a defamation suit that has been overturned in favour of the media house.

Justices Roselyn Nambuye, William Ouko and Gatembu Kairu reversed a high court ruling by Judge George Dulu in 2011, which had awarded Mutua Sh 4.5 million in damages after the governor sued NMG in 2008 over a story published in the Daily Metro, during the post-election violence.

Mutua argued that the article published on February 11, 2008 under the headline; “WHO DOES HE SPEAK FOR”, painted him as an individual who perpetually engages in cheap and careless talk.

In documents filed in court as evidence in the defamation case against NMG, Mutua had claimed that ODM leadership perpetrated and planned the 2007-2008 violence.

NMG’s lawyers argued that as the then government spokesman, whatever Mutua said in public was construed as the official position of the government.