It is a life’s survival tactic, and she must have got it wrong! Is Senator Mithika Linturi’s “wife” Maryanne Kaitany her inspiration? Well, Machakos Woman Rep Agnes Kavindu Nduya’s hopes of sharing former Senator Johnson Muthama’s billions have been ruined.
High Court judge William Musyoka on Friday ruled that Kavindu, who divorced Muthama in 1983, has not proved that they remarried and started living together.
Kavindu had sought declarations that Muthama held certain properties in her trust and that she was entitled to equal share either in cash or kind to the proceeds of sale or transfer of any property sold, that the respondent accounts for all the income received from the properties, that an injunction be issued to restrain Muthama from evicting her from a property at Mua, Machakos county, among others.
Kavindu told court she married Muthama under Kamba customary law in 1975, and they had three children. The marriage was dissolved in 1983.
She claimed they remarried in January 1995, and cohabited at a property in Runda, Nairobi. She quit employment, at the request of Muthama to take care of the family farm.
“We got a fourth child in January 1996 during the course of the resumed cohabitation,” she said.
In November 1996, she moved out of the Runda home to the family home in Mua.
But Muthama told court they did not remarry and accused the Woman Rep of non-disclosure. He said they married in 1975, by which time Kavindu had one child and thereafter they got two children.
The respondent confirmed their marriage was dissolved by judicial decree in DC No 5 of 1983. He subsequently obtained a custody order for the three children in 1991.
He said after the divorce, he married another wife, Joyce, and in 2008 he married Jemimah Mumbua Musyoka. Muthama said while Kavindu had the custody of the children he would keep dropping in to see them.
He maintained that the divorce of 1983 was still legal as even the dowry was refunded and the process of acquiring the Mua property started after the divorce.
Muthama said his former wife participated in his father’s funeral as a guest.