Kenyan port billionaire Abubakar Joho wins court round in drug trafficking smear case

Mombasa port billionaire Abubakar Joho has won a court round in a criminal defamation case stemming from a viral message that accused him of drug trafficking, with a Kenyan court rejecting a bid to strip key digital evidence from the trial.

The accused, Matilda Maodo Kinzani, faces 4 criminal charges under Section 23 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act for allegedly disseminating false information online. She is accused of circulating a message titled "To the Government of Kenya and the Gen Z" during Kenya's July 2024 nationwide protests, falsely claiming Joho was involved in drug trafficking, had illegally acquired land belonging to Kenya Railways in Mombasa and had stolen containers from the Port of Mombasa. The message also made personal attacks on the Joho family.

Kinzani went to the High Court to challenge a forensic document the prosecution is relying on to link her to the post. Her lawyers argued the document had no author, no date, no signature and lacked a certificate of electronic evidence, and that it should therefore be excluded from the trial entirely. She also sought to have the criminal case declared null and void.

The High Court rejected both applications. The digital evidence stays on record. The court did, however, order that the testimony of Chief Inspector Joseph Kolum be temporarily removed from the record until all relevant documents are properly served on the defence. Kolum will testify again and face cross-examination on outstanding issues, including the date the certificate was made. The trial court's earlier decision to admit the document stood, with the judge noting that admitting a document and ruling it admissible are two different things.

The case has its roots in the politically charged atmosphere of July 2024, when the message went viral on WhatsApp during nationwide protests. Joho made a rare court appearance in May 2025, telling Mombasa Senior Resident Magistrate David Odhiambo that the allegations had damaged his business and his family's reputation. He said the smear was driven by business rivalry in port logistics and fertiliser handling, and pointed to Mohamed Jaffer, a Mombasa-based competitor, as the force behind the campaign. Jaffer has not been charged.

Joho heads Autoport Container Freight Services, a major cargo handling firm at the Port of Mombasa. Together with his brother, Cabinet Secretary for Mining Hassan Joho, the family controls one of Kenya's largest freight businesses through Autoports Freight Terminals Limited, with contracts covering South Sudan's import corridor and the Nairobi Freight Terminal.

One legal complication looms over the prosecution. On March 6, 2026, Kenya's Court of Appeal ruled that Sections 22 and 23 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act are unconstitutional for being overly broad. Those are the same provisions under which Kinzani is charged, and that ruling adds uncertainty to the prosecution's path forward.

The trial continues. Kolum is expected to re-testify once all documents have been formally served on the defence.