Journalist ordered to pay Shs 60m for defaming Letshego CEO

The High court has ordered journalist, Henry Lubulwa, to pay Shs 60 million in damages for defaming Letshego Uganda Limited and its chief executive officer, Germany Giles Aijukwe.

Lubulwa, through his online publication Entebbe Post, was found liable for publishing defamatory claims alleging that Aijukwe and Letshego had fraudulently sold the house of one Alex Niyonzima.

According to court records, Letshego had extended a loan to Niyonzima, who mortgaged his house in Kisasi, Nakawa division, as collateral. However, he reportedly defaulted on his repayment obligations despite several reminders from the microfinance institution.

Following the default, Letshego proceeded to foreclose on the property and later sold it to Betty Kyomuhendo. In their suit, Aijukwe and Letshego maintained that the sale was lawful and had never been challenged in any court of law.

Court documents indicate that in January 2023, while Aijukwe was on official leave in the United States, Lubulwa contacted him seeking comment on allegations raised by Niyonzima regarding the purported illegal sale of his property.

Aijukwe explained the process through which the sale was conducted and insisted there was nothing unlawful about it. However, on January 27, 2023, Lubulwa published a story on the Entebbe Post website titled: “Letshego CEO flees country after controversial sale of borrower’s property.”

Aijukwe argued that the publication was false, malicious and defamatory. He asked court to compel Lubulwa to pull down the story from all platforms where it had been published and also sought damages.

In his ruling, justice Collins Acellam agreed that the publication was defamatory and had injured the reputation of both the company and its chief executive officer.

“The publication by the defendant exposed hatred and ridicule to the plaintiffs and the words indeed lowered the plaintiffs’ standing before the right-thinking members of society generally,” Acellam ruled.

“The plaintiffs attached comments from the public from Phoenix that were commented on the defendant’s publication about the plaintiffs. The comments ridiculed and referred to the 1st plaintiff as big thieves, fraudulent and some negative and tribalistic comments also arose against the 2nd plaintiff. Such comments are not good for business given the 1st plaintiff is a financial institution,” the judge added.

Justice Acellam consequently awarded the plaintiffs Shs 50 million in general damages and Shs 10 million in exemplary damages.

“I have considered the weight of the allegations, and that the plaintiffs were generally accused of fraud, untrustworthiness, fleeing from accountability, which was an attack on the moral character of the 2nd plaintiff, attributing to him dishonesty, fraud, running from accountability and lack of professionalism as can be interpreted from the publication,” the ruling reads in part.

“In respect to the 1st plaintiff, its course of business integrity was attacked. I have also considered the wide circulation of the said publication by the defendant,” the judge added.

Court further ordered Lubulwa to issue an unqualified apology on the Entebbe Post website and all other platforms where the defamatory publication appeared. He was also directed to pay the costs of the suit.

The post Journalist ordered to pay Shs 60m for defaming Letshego CEO appeared first on The Observer.

المصدر: The Observer (Uganda)