Reprieve for Nakuru man as court reverses child maintenance order

Nakuru, Kenya: A Nakuru Children's Court has ordered a woman who has been receiving Sh30,000 from her estranged husband for maintenance of their children to account for the cash.

This is after it emerged that the estranged husband, Geoffrey Kinyua Ngonjo, had been paying school fee for his children despite dutifully remitting the maintenance money to his former wife.

Acting Resident Magistrate Judicaster Nthuku also gave Mr Ngonjo a reprieve by overturning an earlier court order that has seen Ngonjo paying Sh30,000 monthly child maintenance fee since 2005.

Ngonjo's estranged wife, Emily Njeri Ngure, had him arrested last week over alleged non-compliance with the order.

Ngonjo told the court that he had been paying school fees for his two children who were in boarding school in addition to the amount he had been ordered to remit.

"I have been depositing the Sh30,000 and at the same time carrying the burden of  school fees and other expenses until March when I stopped," he told court.

Cruelty claims

Njeri moved to court in 2004 seeking divorce and maintenance for her two children on grounds of her husband's cruelty and infidelity.

Ms Njeri claimed the ex-husband mistreated her and neglected their children, who were then aged five and ten years, and the court ordered him to maintain the family at Sh30,000 per month.

Njeri also wanted him compelled to pay arrears accrued since February this year and the money channeled through her account instead of the children's school account.

But during Tuesday's hearing, Kinyua who had been in custody since Friday following an arrest warrant and eventual transportation to Nakuru from Wajir, said his estranged wife had been misusing the money as he was catering for their children's fees.

Cleared school

He said one of them had cleared Form Four yet his wife had not extended the maintenance order.

The magistrate, however, extended an order compelling the man to continue paying school fees for two other children, a 20-year-old son who is due to join university this year and a Form Three student.

The case will be mentioned on August 19.