WATCH: The day Mwai Kibaki told the world he ‘only’ had one wife
The standout moment of Mwai Kibaki’s presidency was, perhaps, in March of 2009 when he called a rare press conference to declare to all and sundry that he only had one wife.
The purpose of the press briefing according to Kibaki, was to put to bed persistent media reports he had a second wife. He was in the company of his wife Lucy, now deceased, who appeared to be in a foul mood.
Specifically, the former head of state who seldom addressed journalists directly was said to be incensed by reports indicating he was in a relationship with a woman namely Mary Wambui.
“I want to make it very clear that I have only one dear wife, Lucy, who is here, and I do not have any other,” he told a televised press conference, with the stony-faced former first lady at his side and the police chief behind him.
“I have gotten into this very foul mood after listening to some statement … I want to say quite frankly anyone who is bent on that course will see me in court. And we shall deal with him, no other way whatsoever,” he added, referring to one politician who had spoken about a second wife.
The hurriedly convened press briefing was attended by an emotional Lucy Kibaki, who said she would go to court to sue anyone purporting that the President has another wife.
“Telling lies! The President may not go to court, but me and my family will go to court. From here you go write lies, I will be with you, I don’t know what you get from it,” she said then.
Lucy was famous for a volatile temper that once led her to slap a civil servant who mistakenly introduced her as the second lady, and warned the media she would not tolerate such reports.
She also once slapped a government official in 2007 after he mistakenly introduced her in front of dignitaries as “first lady Mama Lucy Wambui”, then weighed in, accusing the privately owned Kenya Television Network of “tormenting us”.