A Nairobi law firm has issued a sternly worded legal threat on behalf of Kenya’s Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua, concerning allegations that he illegally acquired an apartment. The law firm, Mabeya & Company Advocates, has given the accusing company, Royal Importers & Exporters Limited, twenty-four hours to admit liability and issue a public apology or face a defamation lawsuit. The demand is contained in a letter dated 2nd October 2025, written by Senior Partner Mabeya N. Moses, which has been seen by news outlets.
The dispute originates from a letter allegedly sent by Royal Importers & Exporters to Gachagua on 30th September 2025. In that communication, the company purportedly claimed that the Deputy President had illegally taken possession of a specific apartment identified as Unit 02, 1st Floor Block D, on a property known as LR No. 330/317. The company further alleged that Gachagua had failed to pay the agreed purchase price of Kenya Shillings Twenty-Five Million.
In the robust response, lawyer Moses Mabeya flatly denies these claims on behalf of his client. The legal letter states that Gachagua is “a stranger to this kind of arrangement” and asserts that the Deputy President has “at no time engaged with or transacted with your company.” It is further claimed that Gachagua has never even set foot in the apartment in question and was unaware of the Royal Importers & Exporters company before these allegations surfaced.
The core of the legal threat hinges on the accusation that the company’s statements were knowingly false and malicious. Mabeya’s letter argues that the allegations were crafted with the intent to “taint and tarnish our client’s reputation.”
It condemns the statements as “reckless with total disregard for the truth” and “factually wrong and unsubstantiated.” The letter highlights that the claims have been widely disseminated across both social and mainstream media, leading to what it describes as “widespread condemnation” and public outrage.
The legal document details the perceived damage, stating that the allegations have severely injured Gachagua’s reputation in his “personal, social, family, political capacity as well as in his societal standing.”
Lawyer Mabeya N. Moses accuses Royal Importers & Exporters of actively sensationalizing the issue by using “bloggers and other busy bodies” to publicize the defamatory statements. The firm contends that this conduct constitutes defamation under Kenyan law, specifically citing the Defamation Act and Article 33(3) of the Constitution of Kenya.
On the instructions of his client, Mabeya N. Moses has made three key demands. The first is an “immediate admission of liability” to begin negotiations on the amount of damages to be paid. The second demand is for the company to issue an immediate and unconditional written retraction of the allegations and to publish this retraction in two newspapers with nationwide circulation in Kenya. The third demand is similarly for an “appropriate apology” to be issued to Gachagua and published in two nationwide newspapers.
The letter concludes with a strict 24-hour ultimatum for compliance. Failure to provide evidence of meeting these demands within this timeframe, the lawyer warns, will result in the immediate filing of a defamation lawsuit. The firm states it has “peremptory instruction” to seek general, aggravated, and exemplary damages, along with the full cost of the legal suit. As of now, there has been no public response from Royal Importers & Exporters Limited regarding these demands.
