‘I’ve never tasted alcohol,’ Wendy Waeni’s mother denies mismanaging funds

Kenyan gymnast Wendy Waeni’s mother Magdalene Syombua has come out to strongly refute claims that she mismanaged funds given to her by various prominent personalities in support of the teenager’s talent.

This comes after Wendy’s embattled ex-manager Joe Mwangi, in an interview with Ebru TV on Monday, accused Ms. Syombua of wasting away all the money on alcohol.

However, speaking to Citizen Digital on Tuesday, Ms. Syombua rubbished the allegations, adding that she does not even drink alcohol because she is “a staunch Christian.”

“I’m a staunch Christian, I have never had alcohol in my life, my daughter can attest to that. Joe Mwangi is a liar and a fraud that is why it was best fit that he no longer manages my daughter,” she said.

She further accused Mr. Mwangi of only giving her a little share of the money from the large sums he was usually given by various politicians as well as media personalities to aid in developing and promoting her daughter.

“He received money from politicians in the name of my daughter; he got Ksh.140,000 from Raila Odinga and only gave me Ksh.30,000,” she added.

“In another instance, he got Ksh.100,000 from Kalonzo Musyoka and TV presenter Jeff Koinange each and I only received Ksh.20,000 and Ksh.4,000 respectively.”

Ms. Syombua also alleged that Mr. Mwangi demanded an unnecessarily large share of money from amount Rwandan President Paul Kagame gave her on behalf of her daughter in 2016.

“During our trip to Rwanda, President Paul Kagame gave me Ksh.500,000 to support Wendy’s talent, I shared the money with Joe by giving him Ksh.200,000 but he still demanded for more,” she said.

“Joe only accompanied Wendy to Rwanda, I could not allow him to accompany my daughter to her performances outside the country since I had noticed peculiar behaviors from him.”

According to her, the former manager also confiscated and denied Wendy access to her phone and only recently returned it after the 14-year-old’s shocking revelation on Citizen TV’s Jeff Koinange Live (JKL).

“Joe confiscated my daughter’s phone on claims that she was visiting unauthorized sites; he declined to return the phone to me until recently after the interview (on JKL). I felt offended considering I was the one who had bought the mobile phone,” she said.

Wendy, during the Wednesday interview on JKL, shocked the nation when she revealed that she has not received a single penny from her performances across the globe for the past five years.

“I’ve been performing all over the world, and right now I live in Huruma because of Joe Mwangi. I’ve performed in Rwanda, Germany, and China…and I’ve not got even a single penny. My mum is really suffering right now, she sells sweets, I live in Huruma in a single-room with her,” she said.

“People are telling me that I’m rude, that I’m a brat, that I post things on Instagram…which I don’t really know. I don’t have access to my social media accounts, it’s Joe Mwangi who controls them.”

Mr. Mwangi on Tuesday however went on a Twitter rant alleging that Wendy was coached by three individuals on what to say during the interview.