Contrary to what is known to the public regarding his 2008 scuffle with former first lady, the late Mama Lucy Kibaki, former Imenti Central MP Gitobu Imanyara has insisted that the matter was the other way round.
Media outlets reported that the known human rights activist was slapped by the first lady across the face for allegedly representing a journalist who was suing her in court.
But Imanyara now claims that it was a fight, but admits that it was initiated by Lucy, but she too received some blows from him.
Imanyara says that being a member of the Chama Cha Mwananchi (CCM) party, he was attending a meeting where then President Mwai Kibaki had invited members of smaller parties.
After being held at the gates as the guards consulted the President, he was let in, but could hear her shouting in anger inside the statehouse, cursing his entry.
“Why is he here? Who allowed him into my house?” she screamed, Gitobu told the Standard.
He says that someone later beckoned him and he stepped out, only to encounter the First Lady and a fight ensued.
“She started raining blows at me. She grabbed my shirt and called me names. I tried disengaging but she held on. I slapped her hard and she fell hard on the floor,” he added.
Contrary to his thoughts that he had landed in trouble, he was alter left to drive home.
Confirming the incident, fellow lawyer Paul Muite says that Imanyara called to confess that he had hit the first lady, though the claims are facing some contradiction from then Kibaki's aide Esau Kioni.
Kioni said that Imanyara only shoved Lucy aside to make way, and would not have dared to do such a thing as he would have faced the consequences.
"We would have dealt with him if he dared do such a thing. Lucy was like his mother," he said.