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As hopes fade of finding the bodies of a mother and daughter who died in a ferry accident, the Christian family has been urged to sacrifice an animal to appease bloodthirsty sea gods.

Mariam Kighenda and her four-year-old daughter, Amanda Mutheu, died when their car rolled off the Likoni ferry on September 23. The ferry lacked restraining chains, gates or a drawbridge. 

Mijikenda elder Mwinyihamisi Mwakinyasi said it will take recovery teams a long time to retrieve the bodies because the gods are holding the wreckage inside their caves.

“The gods feed on blood. If they do not get blood, they take it for themselves. Animal blood will satisfy them. But modernity has made people forget these things.

Kenya Navy divers in recovery operation at the Likoni Channel on Sunday.
ONE LONG WEEK: Kenya Navy divers in recovery operation at the Likoni Channel on Sunday.
Image: JOHN CHESOLI

“The gods feed on blood. If they do not get blood, they take it for themselves. Animal blood will satisfy them. But modernity has made people forget these things,”Mijikenda elder

“A tragedy like this reminds us they exist and need to be recognised,” Mwakinyasi said. Only after an animal is sacrificed will the bodies be found, he predicted.

The channel once was an offering site for the Digo elders to avert tragedies caused by evil sea spirits, he said.

The family has so far resisted calls from residents and Mijikenda elders to perform rituals to appease the gods and persuade them to release the bodies.

The Star has learnt, however, that the desperate family is beginning to consider an animal sacrifice to the sea gods that demand blood.

The family was to meet Sunday and performing rituals was on the agenda, widower John Wambua confirmed.

“I am rushing to the meeting now. There are talks and it (rituals) are on the agenda,” he told the Star on Sunday.

Family spokesperson Luke Mbati has rejected the calls for ritual sacrifice.

“We don’t believe in these traditions. It is against our Christian faith. We will continue with prayers and the bodies of our loved ones will be found in Jesus’ name,” he told journalists earlier this week.

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho condoles with Mary Kaghenda's widower, John Wambua, at the Likoni Ferry crossing channel, Mombasa, on October 3.
SACRIFICE NEEDED? Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho condoles with Mary Kaghenda’s widower, John Wambua, at the Likoni Ferry crossing channel, Mombasa, on October 3.
Image: ANDREW KASUKU

For decades, the Mijikenda elders had been conducting rituals at the ferry crossing to avert dangers posed by the sea gods.

Residents say the gods are angry after being starved of blood for a long time. Therefore, they chose Mariam and Amanda as a sacrifice.

“We don’t believe in these traditions. It is against our Christian faith. We will continue with prayers and the bodies of our loved ones will be found in Jesus’ name,” said Family spokesman Luke Mbati

Meantime, the government announced that South African expert divers will start searching on Tuesday.

South African divers will aid the search.

“The first batch will arrive Sunday, the second one on Monday. They will meet the Kenyan team  starting the search on Tuesday,” government spokesperson Cyrus Oguna told journalists on Sunday.

The number of divers was not immediately established.

Wambua said he hopes they will help relieve the family of their pain.

Oguna said they have isolated four locations where they believe the wreckage and the bodies might be found.

“Today, we have marked two of the locations where we will concentrate our efforts. However, the areas are so deep and divers can’t stay at that depth for more than six minutes,” Oguna said. Otherwise, they develop the bends.

This means it would take the whole day to cover one of the two locations, further diminishing the hopes of recovery.

“Patience is key,” he said.

“Even though those rituals are things of the past, let everyone be given a chance to practise their expertise,” Mombasa Council of Elders chairman Mohamed Jahazi told the Star on Sunday.

“Do those catching fish in the sea slaughter animals first? It was written that mother and daughter would die that day. The ferry accident was just a cause for it to happen,” said Sheikh Ngao

Recovery seems to be failing and alternatives must be tried, the former Mvita MP said. Jahazi served as an assistant health minister in President Daniel Moi’s regime.

Kenya Muslim National Advisory Council chair Sheikh Juma Ngao said he opposed calls for rituals to be performed at the crossing channel, saying they violate Islamic teachings.

“It is haram and it is against the teachings of Islam,” he said.

“One is supposed to pray to Allah directly. He listens to everyone and does not want to be bribed to grant prayers,” he said.

He said many things are found in the sea without sacrificing any animals.

“Do those catching fish in the sea slaughter animals first? It was written that mother and daughter would die that day. The ferry accident was just a cause for it to happen,” Sheikh Ngao said.

He said the government and the KFS have failed the family and Kenyans.

“Let people pray normally without slaughtering any animal to appease any sea god,” he said.

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It was a sensational day at the inquest into the death of Nyeri Governor Wahome Gakuru.

His widow Catherine Wahome denied on Thursday that she was behind her husband’s death on November 7, 2017, in a horrific road crash.

Chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor testified that the governor could have been saved had measures been taken swiftly to stop massive bleeding.

Dhamana Africa lawyer Martha Waweru hypothesized that Catherine could have engineered his death after he filed a divorce petition, one of the grounds being infidelity.

“We note that in the divorce petition there were an accusation of Dr Gakuru to you of engaging in an extramarital affair and my question to you is, would this have involved the person for your best man for your wedding, one Mark somebody?”  the lawyer asked.

However, Catherine who was the fourteenth witness during the inquest, said she was shocked and had not had any issue of infidelity.

Waweru had suggested that adultery could be a valid motive for her to try eliminate the governor.

The lawyer said she could have used Josphart Mwangi Maina, Gakuru’s private bodyguard, and the driver, Samuel Kinyanjui Wanyaga, who were close to the governor.

However, she denied knowing Maina since 1996, as he [Maina] had earlier claimed, and said she came to know him in August.

She also said she knew Kinyanjui, the governor’s driver, for only three to four weeks when he was her driver.

Catherine said when she was with the governor he had a different driver, adding that she was surprised that Kinyanjui was the one driving the vehicle.

 “Prior to when I called (Josphart Mwangi) Maina after the accident, I have no recollection to when I spoke to him again,” she said.

She said she would have no interest to kill anyone, let alone Gakuru, adding that her faith could not allow her to do that.

Senior assistant DPP Peter Mailanyi had started by painting a picture of the governor’s troubled marriage since 2008, saying the governor had even filed a divorce petition.

In the petition filed in the chief magistrate’s court in Milimani in 2013, Gakuru had also cited cruelty, being denied access to their Runda residence and being disrespected in several social places in front of his friends as grounds for divorce.

On one occasion, he had taken his children to Nairobi members club where she stormed in, grabbed the children and left, hurling nasty words at him in public.

“On another occasion, he says you chased him using your car from Sagret Hotel along Milimani Road, Nairobi, to the Kencom bus park at the city centre, driving dangerously and threatening to hit his car,” Mailanyi said.

She also allegedly incited his children against him to ensure they held their father in low esteem, subjecting him to torture, the Mailany said

When the governor died, the petition was still pending in court.

His widow denied remembering the contents of the petition, saying she had read it a long time ago.

In her response, Catherine had called on the court to dismiss the petition and be given custody of the children.

She denied that  they were not on good terms from 2008 and November 2017.

Catherine admitted, however, that they had some differences but said they were just secondary reasons why she moved from their Opal Court rented house to another house in 2008.

The two were married in 1996 and had three children.

She denied the prosecutor’s claims that she participated in Gakuru’s campaigns because his rivals were attacking him, saying he was not married and so she had been requested to come in and save him from embarrassment.

Chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor, the twelfth witness, said Gakuru died of excessive bleeding and injuries to the lower back.

Oduor said that the governor would have been saved had measures been taken earlier to stop bleeding.

“The cause of death was bleeding and when you are bleeding at the scene, what you require is someone to stop the bleeding so that you don’t continue bleeding,” he said.

“And also bleeding has consequences because it reaches a time where you start having organs shutdown so I say it was possible that he could have survived.”

There was a delay of over 40 minutes, which Oduor said was long enough for someone who was bleeding, especially with the severity of the injuries.

He said he did not see any evidence of attempts to stop bleeding or evidene of any surgery.

The body was pale, a sign of significant loss of blood, he said. He enumerated the injuries.

Dr Loise Mathini, the intern who attended to the governor, also said the governor’s tongue, hands and eyes were pale, meaning he had lost a lot of blood and was also in shock.

The thirteenth witness said the governor’s breathing was normal but shallow and he could speak slowly, saying he was in pain and wanted to be turned.

She said they had tried to stop the bleeding where the injury was severe and weretrying to resuscitate him when he passed on.

“When we noticed the extensive pelvic injury we put on a pelvic binder. By tying a binder around the pelvis it offers compression and reduce the amount of bleeding,” she said.

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Nasa principals Kalonzo Musyoka, Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetang’ula have been dealt a blow in their push for a piece of ODM’s Sh6.2 billion cash from the exchequer.

In what could spell doom for the already moribund opposition coalition, Kalonzo’s Wiper, Mudavadi’s ANC and Wetang’ula’s Ford Kenya will miss out on the cash.

Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu has declared that the Raila Odinga – led party is not under any obligation to share its political parties cash with coalition partners.

The registrar explained that the coalition agreement deposited with her office does not provide for the sharing of funds.

“Ordinarily, when dealing with coalitions we go by what the parties agreed in the MoU. If that MoU gives a formula of sharing of funds, then we go with that. But if it does not, then we go by the [Political Parties] Act,” she said.

“In this particular case, the MoU did not stipulate such a formula and therefore we cannot enforce the sharing of the funds. We go by what the Act provides.”

Nderitu was responding to Mavoko MP Patrick Makau of Wiper who sought her intervention to compel the ODM Party to share the monies with other coalition partners.

“There were some rumours that ODM recently received Sh6.4 billion. Is there a way you can intervene to ensure the parties in the coalition get the money?” the MP asked the registrar who appeared before the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee to respond to 2016-17 audit queries raised by Auditor General.

NASA co principle Musalia Mudavadi with Kalonzo Musyoka at City Hall Balcony after being cleared by IEBC officials on May 28,2017.PHOTO/ENOS TECHE.

The issue of sharing the money has been emotive and is threatening to sound the death knell for the once vibrant opposition coalition.

Wiper, Ford Kenya and ANC have accused ODM of bulldozing them and pocketing the millions it receives from the National Treasury.

In its financial statement published in the dailies on Monday, ODM indicated its expecting Sh6.2 billion from the National Treasury.

This is money that has accrued over the years including Sh4 billion that was awarded by the Court of Appeal after a protracted legal battle with the Jubilee administration.

With the handshake, there is little chance the government will appeal the ruling giving ODM’s a war chest as the 2022 polls beckon.

The Political Parties Act, 2011, which established the Political Parties Fund, dictates that not less than 0.3 per cent of the last audited account should be allocated to political parties.

Currently, the money is shared between ODM and the ruling Jubilee Party.

“In this particular case, the MoU did not stipulate such a formula and therefore we cannot enforce the sharing of the funds. We go by what the Act provides,” Anne Nderitu

Some 15 per cent of the fund goes to the registrar’s office for administrative purposes.

The fund is based on the number of seats a party wins and votes cast for the party’s candidates.

Statistics obtained by the Star show that Jubilee has received the highest amount – Sh816.05 million – since 2017 by virtue of the number of elective seats it won in the last elections.

In 2017-18, it got Sh240.37 million, followed by  Sh434.64 million in 2018-19.

In the current financial year, the ruling party is entitled to 564.16 million. However, it has so far received only Sh141.04 million 

ODM has received Sh381.09 million since 2017.

In 2017-18 it got Sh112.25 million and Sh202.98 million in the following financial year.

In this financial year, the party has so far received Sh65.86 million out of Sh263 million is it was allocated.

In June, the orange party was awarded Sh4.1 billion by the Court of Appeal after a long battle.

In the landmark ruling by a three judge bench, the court directed Parliament to allocate ODM the money backdated to November 1, 2011.

ODM moved to court, demanding that it should be paid the arrears which had accrued over four financial years between 2011 and 2016.

Yesterday, the registrar said her office has not received the money.

“The judge awarded Sh4.1 billion but i think they might have claimed more because of the accruals. But what we know is Sh4.1 billion,” Nderitu said.

Yesterday, ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna attacked the Nasa affiliate parties and reiterated that the party will not share the money with them.

According to Sifuna, the partners have betrayed, back-stabbed and disrespected ODM and insisted that the coalition should be dissolved.

“When Mudavadi comes from US, he should be the first person to sign the dissolution agreement and forward it to Wetang’ula and then to us so that we can formally disengage. We are no longer in coalition. We are not friends. Why should we pretend?” he said.

“Even a girlfriend or slay queen must take care of the boyfriend for her to be given money for rent. You cannot abuse a sponsor and you still want his money. These people refused to come for swearing in, today [yesterday] Musalia attacked the handshake and they are fielding a candidate in Kibra. Are those people you can give your money?” Sifuna posed.

But Wiper Party executive director Jared Siso and ANC secretary general Barack Muluka tore into the registrar and the orange party for attempting to collude to deny their parties their rightful share of the funds.

Siso and Muluka claimed that the MoU provides for sharing of the cash and threatened to move to court to force the registrar, the National Treasury and ODM to share the money with them.

“She just hasn’t read the MoU. I think it is a big embarrassment that she has not read the MoU. If she hasn’t, her officers should have read it for her,” Muluka said.

Siso said that his party will explore avenues including dialogue and going to court to get the cash.

“We still believe there is room for dialogue although our patience is slowly fading. We will exploit all possibilities and divorce will be the last,” he said.

According to Siso, the MoU provided for the sharing of the funds among the four parties but the exact formula was to be developed by the co-chairs of the coalition.

“ODM is using a different clause that states that upon winning election, the co-chairs of the coalition will sit down and design a formula of how the money should be shared. The formula is not yet out because we appear to be reading from different scripts,” he said.

In June, attempts by the registrar to mediate the parties to agree on a formula of sharing the monies flopped after ODM remained adamant. The parties have also been negotiating to agree on a formula.

Wiper, ANC and Ford Kenya have claimed that they contributed towards the campaigns of the coalition’s presidential candidate – Raila – in both 2013 and 2017 and should therefore get the political parties funds.

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Sex, violence and property were at the heart the divorce between Dutchman Tob Cohen and his wife Sarah Wairimu, papers obtained by the Star show.

The court papers, exclusively obtained by the Star, paint a picture of marriage with sky-high hostilities, one that was irretrievably ruptured and had become conjugally nonexistent.

The Dutch businessman appeared to make every effort to push Wairimu out of their Lower Kabete home, the papers indicate.

Cohen went missing in July and the police found his body in an empty water tank in his home compound on September 13. It was a brutal murder.

 Widow Wairimu, 52,  is being held at Lang’ata Women’s Prison and is to plead to a murder charge on Tuesday.

It was the 71-year-old Cohen who first filed for the annulment of the union on January 21 under a certificate of urgency. He claimed that Wairimu had been denying him sex since 2014.

He said they were sleeping in separate bedrooms and he was preparing his own meals.

On February 25, Cohen amended the grounds for dissolution of the marriage to include cruelty and violence from Wairimu.

The Dutchman said that on one occasion Wairimu had stormed into his office, thrown water on him and warned, “Do not think that this is all; this is not over.”

He also said that four days later, Wairimu assaulting him, causing “cut wounds and multiple bruises and as a result…[I] suffered pain and agony.”

“[After pushing him off a flight of stairs]..while the applicant was lying on the ground, bleeding, the respondent came on top of him and started punching him and kicking him,” the petition by lawyer Judy Thongori reads. 

Cohen urged the court to order the OCS of Spring Valley police station to evict Wairimu from their home pending the determination of the case.

In 2015, as their marriage continued to deteriorate, Wairimu put a caveat on the land to stop its sale, a copy of which the Star has obtained. Documents show that Cohen attempted to remove the caution via an application dated July 1, 2019.

Wairimu’s rejoinder

But in a rejoinder in a sworn counter-affidavit, Wairimu “admits that the marriage had irretrievably broken down but avers that the break down is on account of adultery and cruelty on the part of petitioner [Cohen].” 

Asserting that she also wanted a divorce, Wairimu dismissed the claim that she was violent, arguing that this was a ploy by Cohen to paint her as a bullying spouse. 

The particular attack started by Cohen was staged by him to build his divorce narrative, she said.

She also dismissed the claim of denial of conjugal rights, saying that they always shared the master bedroom except in sporadic occasions when she had been “forced to take refuge in our daughter [Renee] Gathoni’s bedroom during times when the applicant is excessively intoxicated and abusive.”

“It is only in December 2018 that the applicant started claiming that we have not been intimate for four years and I believe that the claim is intended to [be a] narrative that the marriage has broken down,” she wrote. 

Their 31-year-old daughter lives in the Netherlands with her husband, the papers read. 

Wairimu further said that though they would engage in sex, Cohen was highly ineffective some times failed to perform as he was an abuser of drugs and had secretly undergone a procedure that sabotaged him.

“The applicant underwent a prostrate operation which seems to have affected his ability to engage often or effectively in the manner that he did before the operation,” she claimed.

This situation made him increasingly “unreasonable, aggressive and rude and he would often come home in the early hours of the morning in an extremely intoxicated state,” Wairimu said.

She did not give the dates of the procedure or where it was performed.

The medical procedure, she claimed, resulted in Cohen engaging in an extremely erratic lifestyle with “disruptive sleeping patterns which involved kicking me at night on the claims that I snore and waking up numerous times all through the night to smoke”.

She also claimed that Cohen was a womaniser who would come home with makeup on his shirt.

Wairimu painted Cohen as a frustrated amorous old man out to evict her from their matrimonial home so he could entertain other women.

“The very intention of the petitioner is to ensure my removal from the matrimonial home so that he can have the home to himself to entertain other women of his choice as he pleases,” she writes.

She said that on one occasion while she was away, Cohen had brought another woman to their home, including the bedroom. When she asked, he responded that the woman was his future wife from Machakos, the papers read

The papers also show that Cohen was particularly angered by the reportedly secret construction of a property in Nyeri in By Wairimu.

However, the widow told the court that she never had any construction in Nyeri and that it was Cohen who had a secret construction going on in Murang’a, together with advocate Chege Kirundi. 

“…there has never been anything secret about the property in Nyeri. The applicant has all along known of my ownership of one-acre piece in Nyeri. Our daughter Gathoni expressed the desire to construct a house on the said plot and I asked the applicant if he was willing to partner with her on the project but he expressed no desire at all…citing that his funds were committed to an ongoing construction project in Murang’a county which he was doing in partnership with his friend and lawyer Mr Kirundi,” she swore in the her affidavit.

Kirundi was the lawyer who presided over the opening of the Dutchman’s will last week. He did not disclose its contents.

Staking claim to their home on Lower Kabete Road, Wairimu said they had been cohabiting as man and wife since 1998, bought the land and constructed the house together.

Hence, she said she owns it as much as Cohen did.

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The decision by President Uhuru Kenyatta to cancel the Kimwarer dam and scale down the Arror dam projects has left CMC di Ravenna staff and officials stranded. 

There has been no clear communication on the fate of the Italian firm which had been contracted by Kerio Valley Development Authority to put up the two dams.

“We are waiting to see what happens,” a senior official who did not want to be named said at the firm’s offices in Eldoret yesterday. 

The company is still operating an office in Eldoret despite the row over the Sh63 billion projects in Elgeyo Marakwet county.

Two month’s ago, CMC di Ravenna scaled down its staff from more than 190 to less than 30 at the liaison office on the 13th floor of the KVDA Plaza.

President Uhuru acted on a report by a technical team formed to look into the viability of the two dams to issue the directives. 

 The team found that the two dams had been overpriced and that Kimwarer was not viable. It proposed that the Arror project should be scaled down.

CMC officials had two months ago said they were ready to start construction work on the dams.

They could, however, not proceed with the plan because the firm had no access to the land for the projects.

Arror and Kimwarer dams chief engineer Eva Luongo was not at her office yesterday amid reports that the company may shut down the office due to the uncertainty on the projects.

Three months ago, Luongo indicated that they had finalised initial designs and moved machinery on site.

Among staff who had been deployed in Eldoret were 40 engineers who have since left the region with no work taking off.

The government had gazetted more than 6,500 acres, which were to be acquired from 1,000 families at Arror and Kimwarer.

The affected families have taken back their land after the government failed to relocate and compensate them.

Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Alex Tolgos has asked the families to stay on the land and use it until they are fully compensated. 

“We would like to have the projects continue as planned once the government is through with investigations,” Tolgos said. 

Yesterday leaders from Keiyo said they would hold demonstrations at Kimwarer over the cancellation of the dam.

Organisers Micah Kigen and Paul Kibet said the demos at Kimwarer begin today.

“We want President Kenyatta to reconsider his decision on the dam that was the only major project for the government in Keiyo,” Kibet said. 

The dams’ scandal caused the suspension of Treasury CS  Henry Rotich. The CS and top officials from both the Treasury and the KVDA were charged in court.

PS Kamau Thugge, ex-PS Susan Koech, ex-KVDA boss David Kimosop and acting CEO Francis Kipkech, were among others charged. 

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Since his appointment as ‘super’ CEC in July, it has been a question of when Charles Kerich would be kicked out of City Hall.

‘Mr Fix It’ as he is popularly known at City Hall, fell out with Governor Mike Sonko immediately after he was elevated to coordinate projects in the capital.

The veteran journalist was among the 16 top officials the governor suspended on Wednesday following the disaster at Precious Talent School in Dagoretti on Monday. Eight pupils died after a classroom block collapsed. 

Kerich was seen as the executive closest to Sonko and served in four dockets – Lands, Finance, Health and ICT – in two years.

He was a hands-on officer who the governor turned to ‘fix things’ whenever a crisis occurred at City Hall.

Insiders say that Kerich’s fate was sealed at a night meeting between the governor and two executives in July. The Star established that there was disquiet in Sonko’s cabinet over the appointment of Kerich as super CEC.

The executives, who were opposed to Kerich ‘meddling in their dockets’ by overseeing projects initiated by their sectors, made unfounded allegations involving him.

“They were not happy at all. Kerich had to go and that was known to many people at City Hall,” a source said.

Days later, Sonko hinted at a fallout with his ‘most trusted executives’ and threatened to sack six CECs and three chief officers for being disloyal and cutting deals behind his back.

He ranted in a Facebook post that some CECs had been recruited by cartels and were now making decisions without his knowledge.

“Imagine a CEC you trust most being absorbed by the so-called cartels to the extent of making sensitive decisions without consulting me as a boss,” the governor wrote on his Facebook page.

He claimed the Lands and Planning department was allowing Chinese developers to construct extra-floors on buildings against the law.

Sonko had in May appointed Kerich to the Finance docket from Lands and Planning sector which he had led for more than a year.

The governor then indirectly attacked Kerich during a meeting in Mombasa accusing him of disrespect and working with Sonko’s political enemies.

Yesterday, Kerich did not respond to calls for a comment about the allegations.

The Wednesday suspensions climaxed the chaotic and erratic rule that has defined Sonko’s administration.

He has sacked more than 500 officers, including top executives over claims of insubordination, corruption and disloyalty. He has reshuffled his cabinet more than eight times since he was elected in August 2017.

Early in January, Sonko suffered a huge blow when Janet Ouko bravely called it quits from his leadership.

In an interview with the Star at the time, Ouko said she had nothing against the governor but could not continue living under intimidation and fear.

Sonko subsequently linked Ouko with missing bursary funds at City Hall.

The governor also alleged she had colluded with cartels to operate an illegal account where Sh10 million in county funds were channelled.

In August 2018 he suspended Hitan Majevdia then CEC for Health and a former director Thomas Ogaro over what he claimed was laxity.

They were on the spot over lack of drugs and other medical supplies in hospitals. This was despite it being public that the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency had cut medical supply to all county hospitals over a debt of Sh234 million.

The same month, Sonko suspended John Ojwang from the urban planning department.

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“Even as we stand here, many of the ones responsible for Tob’s death here in sheepskin, believe you me, your days are also numbered.”

These were the ominous words of Sarah Wairimu, the widow of the slain Dutchman Tob Cohen during his burial on Tuesday at the Jewish Cemetery in Nairobi.

Wearing black trousers, a flowered blouse, she clutched a bouquet of red and yellow roses close to her chest. The flowers were handed to her by her lawyer Philip Murgor.

She has been detained in connection with the murder but was allowed to attend after a court order.

The brief Jewish ceremony, presided over by a rabbi and Jewish priests, was conducted in a tense atmosphere. Barbs were traded between Cohen’s brother Bernard and Sarah.

 Bernard started the exchange when called to speak, suggesting the union between Cohen and Wairimu was a marriage of convenience. He said it was plotted single-handedly by Sarah as a scheme to save Cohen from getting kicked out of the country.

“Today we are gathered here to bury my brother for the second time, but this time with dignity,” Bernard said, a reference to the discovery of the body in a water tank.

He explained that the marriage was Sarah’s idea when his [Cohen]’s neighbours started fighting over his properties. 

“He got a piece of land so his neighbours started fighting over his premises. So he would have been kicked out of this country. According to Sarah, they had to marry for him to stay in Kenya,” he said. 

The brother also said that the relationship between the two started slowly as Cohen kept it under wraps, not wanting to let his family abroad to know.

“One thing I know about my husband is that he was a real simba, he was not scared of anybody. One thing Tob taught me is not to take no for an answer. So even in this, I’m going to fight.”

“He fell in love with Kenya, and later started a new life. In the meantime, a secret relationship started growing slowly by slowly with Sarah. He raised Sarah’s daughter and sponsored her education since she was three years old until she did her master’s degree at in a university in the Netherlands,” he said. 

Bernard created the impression that his brother was not proud of his relationship with Sarah and kept it hidden from his family.

“So unexpectedly, we learnt of the torturing and subsequent slaughtering of our brother…. For the three of us coming from a family of a Holocaust survivor, it was least expected.”

When she got her chance to speak,  Sarah rubbished the claim of her presence in Cohen’s life being a secret, asserting that she was “a Cohen”.

“There is nothing secret. I’m glad you’ve heard all my names and I’m glad you realise I’m Sarah Cohen. Know that very clear,” she said. 

“One thing I know about my husband is that he was a real simba [lion], he was not scared of anybody. One thing Tob taught me is not to take no for an answer. So even in this, I’m going to fight,” she said.

Sarah said the killers of her husband were at the gathering, pretending to be family, calling them wolves in sheepskin.

“It’s been painful but I’m glad…..the family members who are pretending as family….yours is another story,” she added.

Sarah said her relationship with Cohen was public and was widely known in their golf fraternity.

“Those responsible for Tob’s, death (are here) yet pretending to be sheep and purporting to be family…I will fight back,” she said.

Former politicians Peter Muiruri and Ngengi Muigai, who both spoke after the Bernard Cohen, said they knew Cohen was murdered immidiately he was reported missing.

“Even when people were saying he is missing, I knew he was murdered. I was the last person to speak to him and what he told me I have told the DCI,” Muiruri said. HIs statement appeared to upset Sarah and her lawyers. Their faces were grim.

Earlier on, there was tension between Philip Murgor and Muiruri. Others had to intervene to calm them.

“This is not his funeral. He must learn to act with civility,” Murgor was heard chiding Muiruri.

After the speeches, the presiding rabbi identified as Yacoub announced that a Jewish-only delegation would be allowed to proceed to the graveside for the last rites.

The rest would follow at a roughly one-metre distance. Then each of the Jewish clerics and the rabbi dropped a spade of soil in the grave

Sarah was allowed to do the same after Cohen’s lawyer Cliff Ombeta attempted to block her, saying no woman would be allowed at the graveside.

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The pastor mother of Marianne Kitany on Tuesday testified to prove to the court that her daughter was married to Meru Senator Mithika Linturi.

Rhoda Chepkoech reminisced about the thoughtful gestures of her ‘son-in-law’ when bought her a car as a gift and contributed Sh1 million for her church fundraiser.

She removed the car keys from her pocket, dangled them and thanked Linturi for giving her the car that she says helped her spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Chepkoech said that the car was outside the court and the court could go to see it, adding that she has been driving it since 2016.

But she also sensationally claimed that the senator took her title deeds that were in Kitany’s custody and used them as collateral for a loan. To date, she has not seen the deeds, though Linturi promised to return them, she testified.

But testifying about happier times, Chepkoech said that Linturi visited her home when the two went through a Nandi traditional wedding ceremony and left there as husband and wife.

For Chepkoech it was difficult testimony, as she said it was taboo to tell a court about things that took place at a traditional wedding. She said, however, that she was convinced she had to shed light on what she called a genuine marriage.

Her daughter Kitany and the senator are in court fighting over matrimonial property. Linturi says he never married Kitany, saying she was just a visitor, while the woman has gone to great lengths to show that the two were an affectionate couple and Linturi was publicly demonstrative. 

Chepkoech kept referring to the senator as Mheshimiwa (Honourable), a title she said she uses because her culture does not allow her to call her son in law by his name.

The mother said the legislator first came to her rural home for a church fundraiser where he contributed Sh1 million in cash. However, she was not aware that he was dating her daughter at that time.

“As a pastor at Africa Gospel church, I thank my son in law who came for a fundraiser before the ceremony in my church,” the court heard.

Chepkoech sent the courtroom into fits of laughter when she thanked Linturi, who was present in court, for donating Sh1 million to her church.

“He came accompanied by several politicians and he contributed Sh1 million cash. I thank you, my son-in-law, for what you did that day,” Kitany’s mother said.

She said that they managed to raise Sh4.2 million that helped the church greatly.

“It was the biggest function and a total of six choppers came for the fundraiser and later the same choppers landed in my home and they had lunch,” Chepkoech said.

Among those present at the fundraiser were Osar Sudi, Kipchumba Murkomen, Governor Ferdinand Waititu, Farouk Kibet, Energy CS Charles Keter and Governor Stephen Sang who was the senator at the time, she said.

It was also her testimony that MP Oscar Sudi knelt before her and asked for her daughter’s hand in marriage on behalf of the senator.

Chepkoech told Chief Magistrate Peter Gesora that Sudi had accompanied Linturi to a fundraiser, then he went to where she was standing and asked that for her daughter’s hand in marriage.

She said that Kitany informed her in 2014 that they were going to Australia to get to know each other with Linturi and their children.

Later in 2016, Kitany told her that they wanted to come home for an introduction and as a mother, she prepared for the function, just as any mum would.

She prepared for Linturi and his people by inviting all her friends and family for the occasion, she said.

Linturi arrived with about 20 people and a pick-up truck full of food, she testified.

She says at the traditional wedding Linturi was asked if he loved her daughter and he told the gathering that he did love her.

Linturi was asked if he was already married and he said he was divorced , she said.

Chepkwony said that as a pastor, she would not have allowed Kitany to marry a married man.

She confirmed that the traditional marriage rites were performed and to her, the two were married according to Nandi tradition.

Chepkoech also told court that Linturi brought a car for her on the same day and presented it to her at the ceremony.

However, the car is still under the name of Linturi’s Atticon company, which has paid the insurance to date.

She said that Kitany left with the Meru people that evening since they were married according to tradition.

Kitany’s mother said  that all the children including Linturi’s children used to visit her during holidays and considered her their grandmother

The court also heard that she had visited Meru several times and interacted with  Linturi Sr, who has since died.

Chepkoech reported the ‘missing’ title deeds matter to the DCI and it’s still under investigation, she said.

The emotional mother told the court that she was saddened at the turn of events in her daughter’s marriage.

Since Kitany was her first-born, she gave her the title deeds to keep, her mother said.

Kitany has strengthened her legal team by adding a Catholic nun to the excitement of the court.

The court heard that Sr Dr Leonida King’ola was among the first nuns in Kenya to practice law in court.

Earlier in the day, Lawyer Danstan Omari accused Linturi’s side of threatening their witnesses at his father’s burial.

He wanted EALA MP Mpuru Amburi to be summoned to explain why he threatened witnesses in the case.

He is alleged to have said at the burial that the witnesses in the case will be cursed by Njuri Ncheke, the Meru Council of Elders.

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