Barely a year into his tenure as Igembe South MP, John Paul Mwirigi has been dragged into the dirty end of Kenyan politics.
Mwirigi, who made history as Kenya’s youngest MP at the age of 24, has been accused of manhandling an area resident in his constituency. According to the victim, identified as John Gikunda alias Wanugu, the MP attempted to throttle his neck but he let go after the local residents intervened.
“Yesterday as I was going home from church I met with several vehicles and one of them, a Range Rover, stopped and I saw the MP. He called me and asked why we were demonstrating without addressing him first. I told him we are suffering because of this poor road. He got angry and accused me that I’m leading a war against him. It is then that he got out of the car, charged at me and held me by the neck… lucky enough as we were speaking, a crowd had gathered to see mheshimiwa. So the locals intervened and that is when the MP let me go.” Gikunda is quoted as saying by Citizen Digital.
Gikunda added he is now living in fear, adding that he intends to report the matter to the police.
“I am really fearing for my life right now because I have never seen such a thing where an MP is beating someone who voted for him,” he added.
The youthful MP has since responded and denied Gikunda’s allegations. He said Wanugu was out to tarnish his name.
“I never tried or attempted to throttle Wanugu and the allegations he’s making against me are meant to taint my name in bad light, I cannot engage myself in such kind of politics he wants to drag me into… let the law take its cause for the truth to be known,” said the legislator.
The MP’s personal aide also denied Wanugu’s recollection of events, saying that a certain bigwig in the area is out to frustrate Mwirigi.
“I was personally present when during the area visit and I can attest to the fact that nothing close to that crap happened on the material date,” said Jolland.
He added: “The said man is a well known perennial goon and a conman according to the locals, he thrives in soliciting money from politicians through blackmailing and intimidations.”
“Without fear of contradiction or intimidation, I can clearly literate[sic] that a certain bigwig is fearing to be out-shined by the vibrant lawmaker and are using unorthodox means to fight back the success of the young and able mp of igembe south.
“Time will definitely tell… and the cartels shall be known,…The damage is already done as part of their agenda but Almighty God shall eventually be glorified when they will succumb to their own vomits.”
