Nairobi News

Could it be that Meru Senator Franklin Mithika Linturi cannot stay away from trouble or is it the said trouble that has conspired to stalk the senior politician all the way to his bedroom?

Here are some events that could help you answer the question.

1. Attempted rape – This week, the lawmaker was accused of attempting to rape a ‘stranger’ in interesting circumstances. A police report fingers him having walked into a room at an exclusive resort in Nanyuki and happened to not only join a woman in bed but also start ‘inappropriately’ touching her without knowing who she was. The said woman says she mistook him for her husband, only to realize he wasn’t when her ‘real’ husband’ walked in. A heated exchange ensued, and Linturi reportedly negotiated himself out of the mess with a Sh1 million token. The politician would later claim the couple extorted him. “I was not sober that night,” he confessed to radio host Maina Kageni.

2. Fake certificates – In 2019, Linturi was accused of faking a law degree from the University of Nairobi (UoN). In a case that would put the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on the spot for clearing him to contest, UoN was forced to deregister him after it emerged the politician used the fake academic qualification papers to contest.

3. Impeachment motion – In 2014, Linturi reportedly skipped a very important function at Parliament so as to have a cozy time in Naivasha, some 100km away. It so happened that the politician, then serving as Igembe South lawmaker, was to table an impeachment motion against Anne Waiguru, now Kirinyaga governor, but who served as Devolution Minister at the time.

But he didn’t. Why? Because on the day of tabling this motion, he found himself spending a ‘good time’ with Marianne Kittany, who insists she is his wife but the lawmaker insists is his mistress. And with that, Waiguru lived to fight another day, at least on the political front.

4. 37 charges – Earlier this year, Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Fred Mataing’i told MPs Linturi faces up to 37 charges in court, including giving false information to a person employed in the public service, conspiracy to fraud, forgery, impersonation, obtaining credit by false pretense, fraudulently procuring the registration of a charge document and intent to defraud.

5. Divorce proceedings – Linturi has in recent times been involved in what arguably is the most dramatic court proceedings in Kenya’s history. He has consistently denied the lady in question, namely Marianne Kaittany was his wife. Kaittany, who’s previously worked at the office of Deputy President William Ruto, insists he is her husband. She further accuses him of forgery, theft and failing to sexually satisfy him, all this as Linturi laughed in court. Kaittany has also successfully convinced court to kick Linturi out of his home in Runda as the case goes on.