After 87 days of Marriage, Pastor Dumps Pregnant Wife for Affecting Tithe Payment and Church's Growth

In Nairobi, a Kayole pastor dumped his pregnant wife after accusing her of being the sole reason for declining congregants in his church and little tithe. The wife accused him of being stingy with money and of infidelity.

 

Kiarie and his former wife, Wagitu. Image: Standard.

A wedding between a Kayole Pastor and his pregnant wife ended 87 days after their wedding ceremony in April 2016 and sent her back to her parents in Muranga.

Apostle Kenneth Kiarie, 30, accused his wife, Marion Wagitu, 23, of being the reason his church and congregants were experiencing weird occurrences.

The two initially rushed into marriage because he was a pastor and needed to have a wife and he hurriedly accepted because he was a pastor.

According to the Standard, Kiarie blamed his wife for his KSh 70,000 debt after funding their wedding as well as being the main reason there was little tithe being given in his church.

“He blamed her for the declining congregation numbers because of her odd behaviours in and out of the church,” published the news site on Friday, September 23.

Wagitu told the newspaper that Kiarie often told her that if she left, there were many other beautiful women hanging around him who could become his wife.

“He claimed I threw hot water and a stove at him and attempted to beat him in front of his parents. He often left me with KSh 5 for cooking oil on grounds that I am a villager,” said Wagitu.

Swearing in the name of God, Kiarie refuted the claims saying that his former wife had weird behaviours, often used offensive words and attempted to assault him in front of friends and family.

“It is a false accusation that I was unfaithful. Actually, this is the third time I chased her away and it has now been successful. She wanted to control me but that is not African. I said we’d rather separate than have one of us dead,” said Kiarie.

Despite being the one who rushed them into marriage, Kiarie said he believed Wagitu to be insane and wanted her evaluated if she wanted a life partner some day.

“I did not want to send her away but being a pastor, everybody thought I was the problem. A wife means a lot to a man but she is not worth living with. She will harm me,” added Kiarie.

Their inability to compliment each other could be attributed to the fact that between their first meeting and their wedding was only four months and so, could not know each other well.

“I overlooked Kikuyu traditions to allow the wedding to take place without Kiarie paying bride price. This situation has left us in embarrassed and he has to send an emissary of elders to resolve the matter instead of maligning my daughter’s name,” said Wagitu’s father.

Kenya denies abuse of refugees in push to close Somali camp

Kenya reaffirmed on Thursday its plan to close the world's largest refugee camp by November, rejecting allegations by Human Rights Watch (HRW) that it is harassing and intimidating Somali refugees to return home when it is not safe to do so.

The rights group said Kenya is not giving the refugees a real choice between being repatriated or staying, and that the United Nation's refugee agency, UNHCR, is not giving refugees accurate information about the risks they face in Somalia.

"Our timeline is November 30th for closure of the camp," Karanja Kibicho, principal secretary for Kenya's interior ministry, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"We are trying to restore sanity in matters of refugee affairs. We are a sovereign country that is trying to address a security concern and we are as humane as possible."

A spokesman for UNHCR in Kenya said the agency would have to study HRW's report before responding.

Kenya announced in May that it would close Dadaab, home to more than 300,000 mostly Somali refugees, by November, following deadly attacks on Kenyan soil by Somali Islamist group al Shabaab.

The government says al Shabaab has used the camp as a recruiting ground for its attacks.

Kenya softened its stance in June, following an outcry from rights groups who said much of Somalia was not yet safe for return, and agreed a goal of halving Dadaab's population by the end of 2016.

Somalia continues to face an Islamist insurgency and is struggling to rebuild after decades of conflict.

Kibicho's comments suggest the government is sticking to its original November deadline.

There has been a surge in departures from Dadaab in recent months with more than 24,000 refugees returning to Somalia since December 2014, the United Nations said.

Some are third generation residents of the camp, which was set up in 1991 to host Somalis fleeing civil war in the Horn of Africa country.

FEAR

HRW interviewed 100 refugees and asylum seekers in Dadaab, some of whom said in a report released on Thursday that they agreed to return home because they fear the Kenyan government will deport them if they stay.

Community leaders told HRW that a government official intimidated them at a meeting in July.

"When I tried to tell the (official) that people can't go back, that it is not as safe as he suggests, he pointed his finger at me and told me to sit down," HRW quoted one elder as saying.

"He told me to pick up a gun and defend my country ... After that meeting, people began to really worry that we would be put into lorries come November."

In 2014, Kenyan authorities deported more than 300 people to Somalia in a crackdown the United Nations said violated the 1951 Refugee Convention which prohibits refoulement -- the forcible return of refugees to areas where their lives would be threatened.

"These people are voluntarily taking themselves (home)..." Kibicho said. "We are a country that respects our obligations to the international conventions."

Refugees who choose not to return to Somalia will be taken to Kakuma, he said, referring to Kenya's second refugee camp, which mostly hosts people fleeing war in South Sudan.

The United Nations has struggled to raise funds to provide health and education services to refugees returning to Somalia.

Some refugees who left Dadaab were stranded near the Somali border in August after local authorities in Jubaland refused to receive them, saying they could not provide enough assistance, HRW and local media reported.

Kenya Warns About Dominance of Ethiopian Products

Ethiopia's items are controlling the market industry, jeopardising Kenyas' capability to attract foreign investors.

As a result of weak industrialisation policy in Kenya, the Kenya Planning Commission have warned that Ethiopia's products could flood Kenya's market, causing difficulties for the country in attracting foreign investors.

"The growing trend of Ethiopia's manufacturing sector, with the tendency of high production costs in Kenya, will hinder the country to benefit from the strategic agreement made between the two nations," said Saitoti Torome," planning principal secretary of Kenya.

The manufacturing sector's contribution to the GDP is declining, even if there was an increase in value terms to 4.2 billion dollars in 2014/15 - from 4.1 billion dollars in 2013/2014.

Both countries are collaborating to build a one-stop border post at Moyale to facilitate the movement of goods and people. Ethiopia have completed 47pc of the 500km road construction to link Addis Abeba to Moyale. This will be finalised in September 2018. On Kenya's side, the construction of the Isiolo-Moyale road is currently 95pc completed.

Drama as church members storm mortuary to ‘resurrect dead people’

There was drama at a Kenyan hospital – Webuye county hospital on Saturday when faithfuls from Temple of God church stormed the hospital’s mortuary “to resurrect the dead”.

According to five members of the church of more than 200 members, they had been sent by the holy spirit to pray for the sick, heal them and resurrect the dead.

Led by a man who called himself prophet Daniel Wechuli, the three women and two men squad claimed to have healed several people through their prayers, that they have led healing prayers for people living with disabilities and they all got healed.

“We have been moving to various hospitals praying for the sick and most of then have been healed by faith,” Wechuli said.

Prophet Daniel Wechuli said that the holy spirit had spoken to them to come and resurrect people who had died prematurely.

“We are divine people who are anointed by the holy spirit to move to hospitals preaching and healing the sick without asking for any penny,” he said.

“We want to show people the power of God in their lives through our church that has been healing and restoring lives to God,” she said.

Another female member said that their task is only to pray and one’s faith is what matters if he wants to be healed.

“We have been to Malava hospital where we prayed and all the sick were healed and left the ward,” Wafula said.

She said that they started the prayers in July and have been to Vihiga, Kakamega and Malava where they have received overwhelming healing testimonies.

However, no one had resurrected by press time as the group kept on praying. Residents of Webuye jammed the facility to take a look at the strange incident.