Say sorry or see you in court, lawyer tells Ahmednasir

A fall-out at a law firm previously associated with CORD co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka has resurfaced, with one former partner threatening legal action against a publication associated with lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi.

Law scholar Musili Wambua has issued a demand notice against Ahmednasir’s Nairobi Law Monthly for allegedly misreporting the dispute between him and ex-partner John Katiku. Together with Katiku, Musyoka and judge William Musyoka, the quartet ran the law firm of Musyoka, Wambua and Katiku Advocates until three years ago when they disagreed and wound up the partnership.

While everybody went their separate ways, Wambua and Katiku got embroiled in disputes which have seen claims and counterclaims filed in various forums, among them High Court, Law Society of Kenya and private arbitration.

In a case review of one of the disputes titled “Lawyer or liar? Court says liar... Well, mostly”, Ahmednasir’s magazine claimed Wambua had been disqualified as an advocate following one of the complaints against him by Katiku. It also claimed the University of Nairobi law lecturer had stolen client money.

But Wambua claims the article was downright malicious. “The spreading of libelous and defamatory material about our client with no regard whatsoever to the factual basis thereof aforesaid has caused serious and irreparable injury to his reputation and profession, no doubt as was intended by you,” the demand letter by Wambua’s lawyer MM Gitonga says.

In the letter, Wambua describes the case review by the magazine as “a charade.” “At no time was our client’s practising licence ever cancelled or revoked,” the demand letter says. He claims he has no history of embezzling client money and no report of that kind has ever been made against him.

He wants the magazine to apologise to him failure to which he will sue.