A Mombasa County Planning officer on Tuesday testified against his long-time friend who posted defamatory claims on Facebook saying he takes bribes.
Paul Manyala an architect at the county said Dancun Odhiambo who is also an architect posted on his Facebook page that he was a corrupt county officer.
The impugned post by the Facebook user Dancan Tyrus Odhiambo states “Mombasa County Planner Paul Manyala stops harassing my workers on my sites. I will not pay a bribe. If the County salary is not enough get another job and stop scaring investors in Mombasa…this is getting out hand…. #pissed off.”
Manyala while testifying said their feud started when a complaint was raised by Nyali residents over a construction that was said to have surpassed the seven storeys approved floors.
He said that the building had been approved for seven floors but it exceeded the approved floors and Odhiambo had ignored the notices and continued to build the houses despite the County officers having stopped the building from further construction.
However, in cross-examination Odhiambo’s lawyer Duncan Osoro asked Manyala to confirm if the account belonged to his client and he said he could not prove it.
“I cannot confirm that indeed the Facebook account bearing the user name Dancan Tyrus Odhiambo was indeed Dancan Odhiambo, I suspected him due to the threats and messages I had received from my friend Dan. I know there are pseudo accounts out there but I only related the post to an almost similar text I received from Dan,” Manyala said.
Manyala maintained that at no point has he and other planning officials in the County Government of Mombasa have asked for bribes to approve constructions in Mombasa County.
The case will resume on October 5, 2023.
