Milimani Magistrate Orders Ex-KFCB Chief Ezekiel Mutua to Pay Nonini KSh3 Million for Defamation

Milimani Commercial Magistrate James Gitau ruled on October 26, 2026 that former Kenya Film Classification Board chief executive Ezekiel Mutua must pay musician Hubert Mbuku Nakitare, popularly known as Nonini, KSh3 million in damages for defamation.

The magistrate awarded KSh2.5 million in general damages and KSh500,000 in exemplary and aggravated damages, ordered Mutua to delete the offending social-media posts within 14 days, and required him to bear the costs of the suit.

The court found that Mutua’s remarks portrayed Nonini as a fugitive who had left Kenya to evade the law, and concluded that such statements were likely to damage the musician’s reputation among right-thinking members of society.

The dispute stems from a public fallout that began in early 2024 over the management and distribution of royalties collected by the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK), where Mutua previously served as chief executive.

Nonini, who left MCSK in May 2022 after 24 years in the industry, said he had not received substantial royalties and later shared a letter addressed to the Kenya Copyright Board showing that MCSK collected KSh109 million in 2023 and spent KSh57 million on salaries.

After Nonini posted the figures on his X account, Mutua responded with comments suggesting the artist was residing in the United States to avoid the law and repeated similar remarks during a radio interview, which Nonini described as false, malicious and reputationally harmful.

Mutua denied that his statements were defamatory, argued that the suit lacked merit and disputed allegations of widespread corruption or theft of artists’ royalties at MCSK.

The judgment arrives amid a wider controversy over royalty payments in Kenya’s music industry, where artists have publicly challenged MCSK’s distribution practices since 2024.