Kibaki

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and First Lady Lucy Kibaki talk at the opening of the 13th Conference on AIDS in Africa 21 September 2003 in the Kenyatta International Conference Center in Nairobi. A five-day-long conference on AIDS opened today in Kenya, with more than 7000 delegates from all over Africa concentrating on access to care. AFP PHOTO/MARCO LONGARI (Photo by MARCO LONGARI / AFP)

WATCH: Social media rediscovers President Kibaki ‘side chick’ press conference

Kenya’s first family, the Kibaki’s, held a blockbuster press conference in 2009 to address polygamy allegations.

Kibaki

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and First Lady Lucy Kibaki talk at the opening of the 13th Conference on AIDS in Africa 21 September 2003 in the Kenyatta International Conference Center in Nairobi. A five-day-long conference on AIDS opened today in Kenya, with more than 7000 delegates from all over Africa concentrating on access to care. AFP PHOTO/MARCO LONGARI (Photo by MARCO LONGARI / AFP)

Footage of the press conference held by the former President of Kenya Mwai Kibaki and his late wife Lucy Kibaki has surfaced on social media. The 2009 press conference was called so that the President could deny allegations of polygamy – or as the meme pages put it declare that he had “no side chicks.”

KIBAKI POLYGAMY ALLEGATIONS

The former president who is turning 90 years old in November was known to be media-shy during his decade-long tenure as the head of Kenya, which added to the bizarreness of the press conference. Lucy Kibaki, who died in 2016, however, was known to be quite the opposite.

“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,” said Kibaki to the gathered members of the media, with his wife standing right next to him. The police chief was in close attendance too, according to The Guardian.

Kibaki said the reason for the press conference was to address the media reports about him having “another wife or wives.” The first such report happened in 2004 when it was reported that Kibaki allegedly married businesswoman and politician Mary Wambui, with whom he also had a daughter, Wangui Mwai, under customary laws in the 1970s.

The now-notorious press conference took place in March 2009, a testament to how the allegations persisted. Kibaki said he decided to call the press conference because a former politician mentioned his alleged relationship with Wambui.

“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,” said the former president.

When the late first lady spoke, her anger was quite evident – when Kibaki finished said what he had to say he gave the media an opportunity to ask him any questions and Lucy filled the dramatic pause that hung in the air by saying, “Ask now or never.”

Lucy Kibaki spotted a cameraman from Kenya Television Network in the crowd and said: I nearly came to your studio last night to attack you the way I did The Nation. You have been tormenting us. I don’t know what you get out of it.”

Kenya’s First Lady Lucy Kibaki speaks to the media while holding a copy of a local newspaper with the headline “Furious First Lady turns heat on police” at Nation Media Centre in downtown Nairobi early 03 May 2005. The First Lady, irritated by stories published in the local media about her family, stormed the newspaper offices late 02 May where she held a marathon press conference lasting until nearly 5am in the morning. AFP PHOTO “KENYA OUT” (Photo by STR / AFP)

The first lady was referencing the time she staged a late-night sit-in at the offices of one of Kenya’s largest newspapersThe Daily Nation – after they published an unflattering story about her. Lucy Kibaki reportedly slapped a photojournalist in the face and even confiscated phones and notebooks on that night in 2005.

Another infamous slap by the former first lady reportedly took place in 2007 after a Kenyan government official mistakenly introduced her to dignitaries as “first lady Mama Lucy Wambui”, according to The Guardian.

Lucy Kibaki, a first lady unlike any other, died in hospital of an undisclosed illness in London, England, in 2016.

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