Bitter divorce: Five orders that estranged wife wants against Senator Linturi
Meru Senator Mithika Linturi separation with Marianne Keitany is messy, noisy and has casualties.
The couple’s rather quiet love life recently exploded into a public fallout, coupled with numerous battles in the corridors of justice plus allegations of hired goons.
And as the bitter split persists, here are five key court orders that Keitany, a former chief of staff in Deputy President William Ruto’s office, is demanding against her husband of five years.
1. She wants to be recognized as Senator Linturi’s legitimate wife. Through her lawyers, the former powerful civil servant not only insists he is Linturi’s wife, but further claims to have contributed to the acquisition of some of their properties in dispute.
Linturi has however differed, claiming Keitany was just a ‘visitor’ in the house. “It’s extremely laughable for the respondent to claim that my client was a guest when they had engraved the names of their children in the said house,” her lawyer said.
2. She wants to be handed exclusive access and use of Senator Linturi’s Runda residence. Last week, Keitany successfully convinced Principal Magistrate Isaac Orenge to have exclusive use of the contentious Runda residence while barring Linturi from accessing the apartment pending determination of their divorce.
The Magistrate also directed Runda Police Station’s Officer Commanding Station to effect the orders.
3. She wants Senator Linturi barred from harassing, intimidating, abusing or threatening her physically or sexually and damaging or threatening any of her properties. Keitany sought these orders when goons attacked her at the Runda home in December and destroyed property while evicting her. She claims to have lost Sh10 million during the ordeal.
4. She wants Senator Linturi to educate her five children she got from previous relationships. Interestingly, this prayer comes two years after Senator Linturi went on record during a TV interview, stating that he sees no problem with men siring kids out of wedlock as long as they can take care of them. He also courted controversy during the same interview by suggesting that men are ‘endangered’ species and thus the responsibility of raising kids should lie with women.
5. She wants Senator Linturi denied access to their joint bank accounts. Keitany has also successfully managed to convince the High Court to issue an order stopping the transfer and sale of property owned by Senator Linturi.
The request was granted by Justice John Onyiego that stopped Linturi from transferring six prime plots located in Kajiado and dealing in five bank accounts at Standard Chartered, Equity, Family, Co-operative and Credit Banks.