I never lured Linturi to lodge, Kitany insists

@BerniceMuhindi

Meru Senator Mithika Linturi’s estranged wife Marianne Kitany yesterday denied luring the lawmaker to Sopa Lodge in Naivasha during the impeachment motion against former Devolution minister Anne Waiguru, in 2014.

Kitany, who was being re-examined by her lawyer Danstan Omari, told the court she became friends with Linturi in the process of discussing the impeachment motion.

“I did not lure him; we went to Naivasha as two willing adults. It was a willing buyer, willing seller,” she told the court.

She also confirmed to have gone to the said hotel several times after that, dismissing claims by Linturi’s lawyer Muthomi Thiankolu that the Senator had never been at the lodge.

Kitany revealed she knew that by accepting to be the senator’s wife, Linturi would be getting into his fourth marriage which she was okay with.

“The basis of me entering the fourth marriage was love and trust,” she said.

Forged signatures

The former Chief of Staff at the Deputy President’s office maintained that the Senator defrauded her and her kin when he took documents from their house and forged their signatures.

The court heard that the land in Runda, where their palatial home is built, was bought at Sh38.7 million by a company co-owned by Linturi and her mother, and the money was a loan taken from Family Bank using her relatives’ title deeds.

Kitany insisted that Linturi went to Nandi to seek her hand in marriage and not as a politician as alleged by Thiankolu.

Regarding Linturi’s marriage to Mercy Kaimenyi, she told the court she saw the marriage certificate between the two for the first time in 2018 when she filed the divorce proceedings.

“The documents show a marriage celebrated on April 8, 2000. I did not know Linturi at that time and I did not attend that function. By then I had just finished my degree and I was also working at Glaxo Smith Kline,” she said.

She said she cannot confirm whether Linturi and Kaimenyi were married through the said certificate as only the Registrar of Marriages can confirm the document.

Kitany argued that the document generated by Tigania Catholic Church is not proof of marriage between the Senator and Kaimenyi, adding that she had not been shown the said marriage certificate during the subsistence of her marriage to the lawmaker.

Shut out media

“This document with a stamp from Tigania church, according to me, doesn’t confirm a marriage. It can’t be the basis of confirmation of a marriage. Only the Registrar of Marriages can,” she said. 

She claimed in her case, she presented material to prove that she was married to Linturi by providing affidavits and photos, noting that during cross-examination nobody challenged the photos she presented.

On allegations that she forged the divorce papers between Linturi and Kaimenyi, she told the court that the DCI after forensic investigations confirmed that Linturi’s signature in the said documents was genuine and if it was forged it was him who did so.

The matter was adjourned to September 24, 25 and 26 after parties reached into a consensus to do so.

Both parties also agreed to bar live streaming of the divorce case but allowed normal coverage to continue. 

“If we shut out the media completely, there would be a concern, but there are people who are uneasy with the matter.

It was the decision made by the parties and anyone aggrieved with the decision should direct their concerns to the parties,” Thiankolu said.