MP sued, again, as lawyer claims he disrupted their coffee pleasure

Mumias East Member of Parliament Peter Salasya. [Benjamin Sakwa, Standard]

Mumias East Member of Parliament Peter Salasya is facing another lawsuit after a lawyer claimed he abused and assaulted him at a restaurant in Kakamega town.

In the case filed on Friday, the lawyer, Edwin Wafula is seeking general and punitive damages over the 'degrading' words trained at injuring his reputation.

"The plaintiff (Wafula) avers that on November 2, 2023, at around 6.00 pm, he went to an establishment within Kakamega Town, Vovo, in the company of friends to have coffee when Salasya confronted him and verbally started hurling insults at him in Swahili," read the court papers filed by lawyer Derek Mango.

"You will understand my 'honourable' title. You'll have to leave me the way you left breastfeeding," Salasya is alleged to have said.

The lawyer, who also wants Salasya to pay for the cost of the case, said the MP continued with the insults, prompting the restaurant's management to politely walk him out.

Wafula says that around 7.30 pm on the same day he, alongside his friends, decided to relocate to another restaurant where they could enjoy in peace. But the MP again cut in on him with another round of defamatory Swahili insults.

"The plaintiff (Wafula) avers that the defendant (MP) physically attacked him and he was again thrown out of the restaurant by the management," read court documents.

He has attached a report at the Occurrence Book taken at Kakamega Central Police Station (OB No. 02/11/2023) to his plaint to show that he indeed booked the first-time lawmaker for assault.

Wafula, through his lawyer, says the abuses have succeeded in depicting him as stupid, conman, fraudster, satanic and as one who lacks integrity, attributes the MP knew were false and defamatory to the lawyer of over 15 years' standing.

He says the words of the Banking and Finance graduate from Egerton University were not only defamatory, but threatening to the core.

"The words complained of have resulted in the plaintiff (Wafula) to be shunned by members of the community which act has directly affected both his personal and professional life, especially his source of livelihood," reads the plaint.

"They have further caused the plaintiff distress and embarrassment among family, peers and the community at large which damage is irreparable."

Last week, the MP was ordered to appeal in court on Wednesday to defend himself against a claim of Sh500,000 debt. A businessman told the Kakamega Small Claims Court said that an out-of-court settlement suggested by the MP had collapsed. Robert Malenya Lutta alleges Salasya had failed to repay the money in two months as agreed.

"Being a friend for so many years, I accepted to advance him the amount on December 13 last year," he said in his court papers.

"On the material day, I proceeded to the Kenya Commercial Bank, Mumias branch, where I made a direct transfer of the Sh500,000 to the personal account of the MP, who promised to refund the amount within a period of two months from the date of the transaction."