A
32 year old woman caused a
spectacle
on Saturday
at the Kenya Methodist University in Meru when she sought to stop a wedding between his husband and a second wife.
Miriam Mueni, who had traveled all the way from Mombasa where she lives with her husband Cornelius Muike,
was prevented from accessing the KeMU chapel where the wedding was taking place after she was notified that her husband was to wed Purity Nkirote, a police officer.
“Our marriage was solemnized at the Jesus Celebration Centre in Mombasa in 2003. We have three children. My husband has been away from home for about five days and kept lying to me that he was coming home every time. I never knew he had planned such a thing because he was even talking to his children”, said Mueni.
Mueni adds that her husband started having an affair with the police officer in 2014 when he joined Nairobi University for further studies.
“She (the officer) has been threatening me and I have even a message in my phone which she sent me. At some point she even lied to me they have stopped moving together. I’m wondering how they will be issued with another marriage certificate yet we have never divorced”, she said.
According to Terry Kiogora, a friend who had accompanied Mueni, they never expected that Muike would have thought of getting married to another wife.
“They have been having some issues in their marriage but we never knew he could do something like this. I was informed by a friend that he was going to have a wedding in Meru and after investigating we went to consult a lawyer to ascertain the validity of the marriage certificate and when we came we thought that the husband would feel pity for the children but things have turned out the opposite”, she said.
Kiogora added that as friends, they were aware that Muike had a relationship with the cop but every time they asked him about it he always disputed the relationship.
“I feel bad as a mother because I took it as if it was my child, so I decided to intervene and stop the wedding. If you are married in church, the law prohibits you from marrying a second wife in church. It can only be made under a customary marriage and with consent of the first wife”, she said.
Efforts to get a comment from the groom were unsuccessful after heavy security barred the media and non family members from accessing the University Chapel.