A Court of Appeal in Kisumu recently granted a woman some relief after it issued orders barring execution of a ruling directing her to pay Sh20,000 upkeep to her ex-husband.
Mabel Khayisia Majanja, a professor at the University of South Africa, was ordered by Eldoret High Court to pay Gerishom Lujitio Majanja, her former husband, Sh20,000 monthly upkeep after their divorce.
At the time of their wedding at the Attorney General’s Chambers in Nairobi on August 25, 1989, Gerishom was a widower with four children, while Mabel had a daughter from a previous relationship. They were not blessed with any children.
Mabel was a librarian at a teachers’ college, while Gerishom was the regional operations chief with an American firm and was based in the US. They had a house under mortgage in Lavington, Nairobi. Gerishom would later lose his job, and was deported to Kenya where he was employed by an international auditing firm. The firm however reportedly sacked him after learning that he had sued the American firm that happened to be one of their clients.
With the loss, Gerishom’s dreams of pursuing a masters’ degree through a scholarship in 1991 were shattered. But his wife, whom he had also encouraged to apply, succeeded.
“I supported her to settle in Pittsburg with $5,000 (Sh500,000 at current exchange rates) I had in a US bank, as I took care of the children until she came back. I was jobless and stressed. We were forced to move to Moi University where she had landed a job,” Gerishom said, adding that the mortgage for the Lavington house was recalled through a private treaty, and he used the money to build a house in his Muraka village besides opening a business which collapsed.
Mabel however alleges that Gerishom housed a girlfriend at her former employer’s staff quarters after she left for Pittsburg, USA.
She asked for divorce on grounds of adultery and cruelty, and testified that Gerishom was miserly, uncaring and made unreasonable sexual demands, besides accusing her of adultery, yet he cohabited with a woman in their matrimonial home in Kakamega.
In 2002, Mabel went on to pursue her PhD in Pretoria, South Africa during which time she allegedly never met or communicated with Gerishom.
Mabel testified that she moved to South Africa to be as far from Gerishom as possible after their marriage faced serious incompatibility differences one year after they wedded.
“My client has never supported the respondent since 1997, and has no reason to do so now. She is not the one who took the bride price and cannot be asked to refund it. She cannot stop using the name Majanja as the respondent demands because she has built a career around it,” said Mabel’s lawyer during the hearing.
Gerishom, however, countered the petition stating that Mabel was cruel, had deserted their marriage besides committing adultery with two co-respondents in the matter.#However, Alubala Andambi, Mabel’s lawyer, said the two men with whom Mabel allegedly had sexual relationships with were innocent bystanders caught in marital crossfire.
Gerishom, however, testified that Mabel had a contract at a leading parastatal in Kenya where one of the men worked and that she would avoid him and instead go to be with the man without his knowledge.
He testified that he spotted the alleged lover driving Mabel in their family car in Kakamega, and out of anger, developed a cruel rumour that they had perished in a road accident.
