Kenya’s First Lady, Lucy Kibaki, on Wednesday slapped an official who confused her name with that of a woman who has been reported as being the president’s second wife, a report said.
Lucy Muthoni Kibaki slapped an undersecretary in the Office of the President after the official referred to her as ”Wambui” during a presidential awards ceremony, independent NTV reported.
The undersecretary, whose name was not disclosed, immediately stopped officiating the ceremony at the State House in Nairobi and was whisked away by security forces, NTV reported.
The report said security forces confiscated the camera that captured the moment and erased the clip. President Mwai Kibaki ignored the incident and the awards ceremony continued, the report added.
The woman whose name was mentioned has been widely reported as being the president’s second wife, though he has not confirmed it.
In 2004, the influential first lady provoked an uproar when she issued a statement to the press denying widespread speculation that her husband had more than one wife.
She has earned a reputation for being controversial. In 2005, she stormed into the office of the country’s largest media group with a phalanx of armed bodyguards to complain about allegedly unfair coverage.
In that incident, she assaulted a journalist who attempted to film her, and confiscated journalists’ cellphones, cameras, notebooks and pens in the five-hour siege. — Sapa-AFP