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A woman from Siaya County is at pains after her husband demanded back Sh10,000 and two cows paid as dowry to her parents.
Christine Auma Olero from Mundoware village in Gem married Dominick Okello Odinga in December 2014. To culturally cement the marriage, Odinga gave Christine’s ailing father, Olero, two cows and Sh10,000 as dowry.
“I met him (Odinga) on August 10, 2014. He seemed to be in a hurry to have me move in with him. He told me he had just divorced his first wife. On the 17th of the same month, just a week after meeting him, we moved in together. We then moved to Nairobi as husband and wife, but it was not until December 2014 that he paid the dowry,” says 28-year-old Christine.
According to Christine, in January 2015, a month after paying dowry, Odinga decided to marry another woman. But Christine was not ready to share her man with another woman and opted out of the marriage in June 2015.
“I just couldn’t take it anymore. When I left him, he became angry and came to my parents to demand his two cows and Sh10,000 back. There was only one cow left at home after my father sold one to pay fees for my brother who was in secondary school,” says Christine.
Their marriage however survived the storm with the two reuniting as husband and wife in September.
Christine chose to cede ground — she decided to stay at his husband’s rural home in Awendo, Migori County.
“I was desperate and needed to take care of my two children from my first marriage,” she says, adding that Odinga promised to drop his dowry demands if they lived together.
Later, a month after reuniting, Christine claims that Odinga changed and ordered her to pack and leave his home — he even allegedly brought cops to kick her out.
Later, in February 2016, death robbed Christine of his ailing father. Burial was scheduled for March 5. Odinga who had parted ways with Christine reportedly planned to attend the burial, but opted out on realising that Christine’s first husband, the father of her two children, would also be present at the burial. He was allegedly angered by this new development.
“According to Luo customs, there cannot be two husbands to one wife,” a bitter Odinga told The Nairobian.
Two days after the burial, Christine was reportedly arrested by a corporal and charged with sending threatening text messages to kill Odinga if he attended her dad’s burial. That is according to a Mr Kasyula, the OCS at Yala Police Station.
Christine claims she is not aware of the text message she was accused of sending. She was detained at Yala Police Station from March 7 to March 11 without being arraigned in court.
The OCS explained that Christine “stayed here for some time but we later let her go when her husband withdrew the case.” Christine however accuses the police of harassment and claims that some mocked her and disclosed that “it was my husband punishing me” in the process.
But Odinga told The Nairobian that he still loves Christine and wouldn’t mind reuniting with her. “As her husband, I know how good she is. If she gives me another chance, I would take her back as my wife again,” he told The Nairobian.
