MP faults lawyer for filing Sh500,000 'debt' case

Mumias East MP Peter Kalerwa Salasya. [File, Standard]

Mumias East MP Peter Kalerwa Salasya has called out a lawyer for filing a case against him demanding repayment of Sh500,000 at the Kakamega Small Claims Court.

The MP was loaned the amount by businessman Robert Lutta who has since sued through lawyer Edwin Wafula, demanding repayment.

Mr Salasya, who is yet to respond through court, has taken to social media asking the lawyer to keep off from the matter.

In a post on his official Facebook, the MP said the lawyer could be working for his 'political enemies' and has vowed to take him head-on.

The Egerton University graduate and first-time MP also dared the lawyer to a (political) duel should he not step back.

In the Facebook post, the MP fails to mention whether he was loaned the Sh500,000.

Mr Wafula said the MP is "obviously misled and out of order" by taking to social media against him.

"I believe in filing the case I was merely doing my job. A client walked into my office and wanted my services and I duly offered the services through filing the case. Whose goat did I steal by doing so?" he posed.

Wafula added? "The MP should not politicise the matter, if I were him I would simply pay the debt and move on. That is all my client (Lutta) wants and I am representing him."

Lutta sued the MP on Monday afternoon, saying he loaned Salasya the amount in the hope that he would refund it in two months but the MP has since become elusive.

"Being a friend for so many years, I advanced him the amount on December 13 last year (2022)," he says in his court papers.

He regretted that the lawmaker has since failed or refused to refund the amount.