Machakos County Governor Alfred Mutua has issued a seven-day ultimatum to Wavinya to apologise for her defamatory remarks against him.
Wavinya, who lost to Mutua in the 2013 and 2017 governor races, claimed she had been threatened and that Mutua should be held responsible should anything happen to her.
“My dad (100 years old) was shot just two days before I launched my bid in 2013. The day I served Mutua with court papers for my petition in 2013, my neighbour’s Range Rover, which was similar to mine, was shot at [as the driver entered] our gate,” she said.
“In early 2017, my opponent opened his MCCP offices 100 metres from my home in an attempt to intimidate me.”
Wavinya claimed this was not the first time the Governor was keeping tabs on her.
“One of my workers recently confessed that he was offered Sh3 million by persons known to him to relay information regarding my movements. I have since reported the matter to the police,” Wavinya wrote on Facebook on Monday.
She added: “Today at around 4:30 pm, he was seen driving slowly by my gate in his white VX Land Cruiser, tailed by a grey Subaru. What he is surveying I do not know. If anything happens to me, please hold him accountable.”
In his response on Tuesday, Mutua warned Wavinya Ndeti that legal measures would be taken against should an apology not be issued within one week.
“Unless you comply with this demand, our mandatory instructions are to institute legal proceedings against you without any further reference to you whatsoever,” he said.
Mutua is demanding an immediate admission of liability for the defamation of his character, an action that will be followed by the assessment of the damage caused.
He also wants Wavinya to stop engaging in “unfounded propaganda” against him.
His lawyers argued the remarks were “intentional outright lies and propaganda calculated to seek sympathy and to portray Wavinya as a victim of imaginary persecution”.
“It is our case that your behaviour is criminal and portrays you as a rogue, a liar, an inciter and a dishonest person who uses opportunistic, mischievous and scandalous ways to achieve her intentions,” BM Mung’ata & Co. Advocates said in a statement to the media.
“A police complaint has been lodged via OB No. 29 of 10/04/2018 at Machakos police station.”
Mutua further denied allegations of tailing Wavinya saying he was at the airport, hundreds of kilometers away, on the day Wavinya claimed to have seen him near her gate.
“The time you claim our client was seen driving near your home, our client was at an airport, 500kms away, waiting to board flight KQ No. JM 8645 to Nairobi,” his lawyers said in the letter.
“He was in clear view of hundreds of people including senior government officials. This fact alone exposes you as a shameless and blatant liar out to mislead the public and damage our client’s hard earned international reputation.”
