The National Assembly Speaker, Moses Wetangula, has demanded an apology from former Bungoma Governor Wycliffe Wangamati for linking him to his woes.

Wangamati had told a press conference on Monday that his arrest by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) was instigated by Wetangula. Wangamati has since been charged with Sh10 million graft.

Wangamati accused Wetangula of using his political power to clear the political way for his younger brother (Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi), who is intending to vie for the Bungoma gubernatorial seat, which Wangamati is seeking to recapture in the August 2027 general elections.

Wetangula wrote to Wangamati through his lawyer, Ms Jacquiline Cynthia Busina, demanding that the former governor write an apology for the utterances that the Speaker claims are falsehoods.

“We have instruction to demand, as we hereby do, that you, Peter Manayonge Wanyama, do publish as well as deliver to us, on behalf of our client (Wangamati), an acceptable written apology for the subject defamatory statements you made against our client,” states Ms Busina in the demand letter.

“Offer an unreserved and unequivocal retraction and apology of the subject defamatory statements with full and effectual publication in the same manner, style and pomp you made the subject defamatory statements in the mainstream media and social media.”

In the letter, Wanyama, Ms Busina has termed the utterances by Wangamati outrageously defamatory, disrespectful and unacceptable.

She says her, courtesy of Wangamati’s provocative statements, her client’s (Wetangula’s) reputation has been brought into disrepute, odium and contempt before right-thinking persons, both within and outside the territory of Kenya.

“Our client indeed suffered and continues to suffer, among others, of untold mental anguish and damages, unmollified to date,” states Ms Busina.

“The state of affairs cannot continue with perpetuity, and the option of whether or not to mitigate at this early stage, the consequences of your torturous and criminal liabilities emanating from your subject utterances is exclusively yours.”