• The globally-recognised gymnast and Unicef Ambassador said she performed across the world, but Mwangi did not giver her or her family a penny.
• She blamed her ex-manager for making away with all the money.
Image: COURTESY
ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna has revealed how Joe Mwangi once approached him to alter the name on the cheque issued to Wendy Waeni.
Sifuna in a tweet on Thursday confessed that the teenage acrobat Waeni approached ODM to help her buy acrobatic equipment for her games which ODM obliged and drew a cheque for her foundation.
Her then-manager Mwangi, however, approached Sifuna to change the name in the cheque to his name, a request he refuted.
"One time Wendy came to Orange house and we cut a cheque for her foundation to buy some play stuff. Weeks later Joe Mwangi came asking us to change it and write the cheque in his name. I canceled the whole thing, "reads part of the tweet.
Sifuna's revelation comes after Waeni on JKL on Wednesday, lamented on how her ex-manager exploited her.
The globally-recognized gymnast and Unicef Ambassador said she performed across the world, but Mwangi did not give her or her family a penny.
She blamed her ex-manager for making away with all the money.
I don't know about child trafficking but one time Wendy came to Orange house and we cut a cheque for her foundation to buy some play stuff. Weeks later Joe Mwangi came asking us to change it and write the cheque in his name. I cancelled the whole thing. https://t.co/YvwL6txpBx
— Edwin Sifuna (@edwinsifuna) August 8, 2019
“I have performed all over the world but I’ve never gotten a penny from it and that is because of my previous manager [Joe Mwangi]. I live n a single room in Huruma with my mother,” Waeni said.
She said that her mother currently sells sweets and cigarettes late at night in order to afford the rent for their single-room shack in Huruma.
“My mother is really suffering. She’s working right now (10 p.m). She sells sweets and cigarettes at night and we’re in this situation because of Joe Mwangi. Ever since I started performing across the globe, my mum has never gotten a single penny.”
Waeni said that Mwangi also locked her out of all her social media accounts and sometimes made controversial posts that left many followers unimpressed and questioned her morals.
“It’s really so sad when people tell me I’m rude, I am a brat because 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,” she said.
Joe Mwangi has however denied claims that he has been travelling with her during world tours. He claims there are interested parties who are maligning him.
In a tweet response on Thursday, he dismissed claims that he has never paid Waeni.
"It is alleged that for more than 5yrs Wendy has never received a penny, I mean....which parent in this World will allow his/her kid to be misused for not 1 month, not 1year, but 5yrs?" reads Mwangi's tweet.