NAIROBI, Kenya- A KCB banking agent has demanded a public apology, retraction and compensation from lawyer Donald Kipkorir over a social media post linking her name to payments for National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) traffic fines.
In a demand letter dated June 30, advocates acting for Catherine Cherono Tomno accused Kipkorir of publishing false and defamatory statements after he questioned why an NTSA payment appeared to have been made into a bank account bearing her name.
The lawyers said Kipkorir’s post on his verified X account, followed by more than 1.5 million people, implied that Tomno was illegally receiving government revenue, operating a government bank account in her own name and engaging in fraud and corruption.
According to the letter, those allegations are false.
The advocates said Tomno is a licensed KCB Bank agent operating at KCB Freedom Heights on Lang’ata Road and that the transaction in question involved a customer who withdrew money through her agency before paying an NTSA traffic fine through the bank’s official payment system.
They said the customer’s M-Pesa withdrawal was processed through KCB Agent Paybill No. 522533, whose settlement account is registered in Tomno’s name as required for banking agents.
The funds were then used to settle the NTSA fine, after which an official KCB receipt confirming payment to NTSA was issued.
The lawyers argued that the appearance of Tomno’s name on the M-Pesa confirmation reflected the banking agent facilitating the withdrawal rather than the recipient of the government payment.
The demand letter further states that Kipkorir failed to verify the transaction with Tomno, KCB or NTSA before publishing the post.
It also claims the publication caused significant reputational damage, alleging that Tomno has since received numerous calls from family, customers and business associates, had her business disrupted and was summoned by KCB Bank to record a statement.
The advocates noted that NTSA has since issued a public statement explaining the payment process and confirming investigations into the matter, which they argue demonstrates that the conclusions drawn from the original post were premature.
The law firm has given Kipkorir three hours to remove the post, publish an apology and retraction, acknowledge that Tomno was acting as an authorised KCB agent, undertake not to repeat similar statements and compensate her for the alleged harm.
