PH
As Kenya continues to mourn the late former First Lady, Lucy Kibaki who died on Tuesday while receiving treatment in London, mixed thoughts continue to trickle about her legacy.
Macharia Gaitho, a former Managing Editor for Special Projects at Daily Nation, narrates how she stormed the house one cold night back in 2005 over a story that rubbed her the wrong way.
Gaitho, who was sleeping at that time had to leave her house at midnight after the First Lady paid them an unexpected visit.
He would be met with a fleet of Mercedes Benz limousines, and a furious Lucy Kibaki who was demanding to see the Group CEO.
Gaith, who was the editor on duty that day, managed to pull her into an office where she lashed at the Editors for running a negative story about her the previous day.
The story was about Lucy disrupting the farewell party of their neighbor at Muthaiga Estate, who also happened to be the then World Bank Country Director Makhtar Diop.
Daily Nation reports that the late first lady wanted the two reporters who filed the story, and another who was doing a follow up, arrested.
She grabbed the camera of a photojournalist who tried to snap the midnight raid of the media house, sending the entire crew into panic.
Another photojournalist from KTN also endured a slap after aiming his camera at her.
Gaitho had to call for intervention from State House.
That was not the first public scene she caused.
Later in 2009, she forced her husband the former President, Rtd Mwai Kibaki to call a press conference and announce that he had only one wife.
This was to dispel rumours that the head of state was keeping a second wife.
“I want to make it very clear that I have only one dear wife Lucy, and I do not have any other. And anybody who knows me and knows my family and knows how I live will know that I have only one wife. And they do not expect any diversion from the reality of life by people telling lies,” said Kibaki, with his fist-clenched spouse standing beside him.
