Businessman and Magnum Credit boss Joseph Lendrix Waswa has been accused of threatening a Kenyan journalist following a dispute over an online article concerning his private life, his wife and an alleged affair involving a senior female staff member.
The controversy erupted after The Kenyan Daily Post published an article claiming that Waswa had flown his wife to Paris for a lavish vacation following an alleged confrontation at an office associated with Magnum Credit.
According to the report at the centre of the dispute, Waswa’s wife allegedly stormed the office and confronted a senior female staff member over claims of an affair with the businessman.
The article further alleged that Waswa later travelled with his wife to Paris in an apparent attempt to cool tensions following the reported confrontation.
However, the dispute subsequently took a more serious turn after a journalist said he received disturbing messages while being pressured over the removal of the article.
The journalist maintains that he neither wrote nor published the controversial story and does not own or control The Kenyan Daily Post, the website on which it appeared.
Screenshots reviewed in connection with the dispute show the journalist repeatedly explaining that while he interacts with bloggers and other media personalities professionally, he has no authority to order another publication to delete its content.
Despite those explanations, the conversation allegedly escalated.
One of the most concerning messages contained the words: “nimekaa sana bila kuona Damu ya mtu” — which translates roughly to, “I have stayed a long time without seeing someone’s blood.”
The journalist says he interpreted the statement as a threat to his life.
At one point, apparently concerned about how the disagreement was developing, the journalist attempted to withdraw from the matter altogether.
“Am out of this business. Thanks for your time,” he wrote.
The response was equally unsettling: “You can’t be out.”
The journalist subsequently replied: “I dont want blood in my hands.”
The exchanges raise questions about how a disagreement concerning an online publication escalated into references to blood, particularly when the journalist says he had no control over the website carrying the disputed article.
Another series of messages allegedly intensified his concerns.
In a separate SMS exchange, an incoming message warned: “Bro nitakupeleka mbio na Hio storie. Hutapenda.”
Loosely translated, the message means: “Bro, I will deal with you over that story. You won’t like it.”
Another message subsequently warned: “Wait you will see what I will do.”
The journalist says that when the statements were considered together with the earlier reference to someone’s blood, he became concerned for his safety and decided to preserve screenshots of the exchanges.
The controversy is particularly unusual because the journalist at the centre of the alleged threats insists he was not responsible for publishing the original story.
He says his only connection was that, as a journalist and communications professional, he knows and communicates with bloggers and other media personalities.
Knowing publishers or being able to communicate with them, however, does not necessarily mean a journalist owns their websites or has the ability to remove their articles.
