• Former MP is accused of deserting his matrimonial home.
• Wife filed for cross-petition wanting out of the unhappy marriage in which she had been denied conjugal rights since 2005.
The hearing of a divorce case filed by former Nyali MP Hezron Awiti 10 years ago is finally about to proceed.
Awiti wanted to divorce his wife Lucy Adhiambo in May 2009 but the hearing has been in abeyance since then. It has however caught the attention of Mombasa family court Judge Thande Mugure who has set the hearing for June 27.
Awiti accused his wife of adultery and wanted their marriage declared null. He also accused Adhiambo of stealing Sh8 million from his company.
But in a cross-petition which had previously been dismissed but later reinstated, Adhiamb_o accused the former lawmaker of cheating on her with five women.
She further accused him of deserting their matrimonial home.
In the court documents, Adhiambo accused her husband of denying her conjugal rights because he suffered erectile dysfunction.
She stated that she had been unable to enjoy sex since 2005 due to her husband’s impotence.
Further, she had suffered psychologically after Awiti forced her to undergo some rituals.
AWITI'S BACKGROUND AT A GLANCE
The MP has interests in almost all sectors of the economy including the oil, transport, real estate, hospitality and security. The politician prefers to keep his private life private. Rarely has he introduced his spouses or children to the public.
He first got into active politics in 2010 when he sought to represent the new Nyali constituency which had been hived from the larger Kisauni constituency. He was in ODM before he moved to former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka’s Wiper party, through which he won the seat.
Ambitious and fearless, Awiti wanted to dethrone Joho as governor in 2017, accusing him of sidelining his community and other non-Coast groups.
However, former Senator Hassan Omar’s insistence that he also wanted to succeed Joho made it impossible for both Wiper members to run for the seat on the same ticket.
This forced Awiti to form Vibrant Democratic Party (VDP) through which he vied for the seat. He garnered 4,700 votes, coming fourth behind ODM’s Joho (221,177), Jubilee’s Suleiman Shahbal (69,515) and Wiper’s Omar (43,780).
The politician, she claimed, had assaulted her several times, causing her bodily harm.
Mugure had reinstated the cross-petition in 2017 nine years after Adhiambo had withdrawn it citing threats by Awiti.
She had accused the husband of threatening her with physical violence to have the cross-petition dropped.
She said she had filed a reply to Awiti’s divorce case and further filed the cross-petition.
Adhiambo told the court that her husband demanded the cross-petition withdrawn and even withdrew their children from a prestigious school.
She further said that the former MP stopped all financial support for her and the children.
But Awiti said he had been meeting all his obligations.
Mugure said it was fair to reinstate the cross-petition since Awiti had never set the petition down for a hearing since he filed it.
The judge ruled that it was clear Adhiambo wished to be released from the unhappy matrimonial union, saying it can only be done through hearing and determination of the case.
She said it was prudent to hasten the matter since alternative dispute resolution had failed and the couple had not lived together since 2004.
Awiti has not made any public appearance since the elections.
In January, he told the Star it was too early to talk about 2022 politics but intimated that he will be in the race to succeed Governor Hassan Joho.
“Remember the message I sent? I am not surrendering,” Awiti told the Star by phone.
He said he has been concentrating on his businesses, which took significant hits during the campaigns which left a financial dent of Sh1 billion.