The groom in the aborted Bomet wedding has finally broken his silence.
Amos Rono, 30, said his plans to tie the knot with Nelly Chepkoech were over.
Spilling the beans on what transpired, Rono accused his bride of not being sincere and open to him.
“My plans to wed Nelly Chepkoech are over because she was not sincere and only waited until the last minute when she decided to open up and declare she was dating another man,” Rono said.
He said Chepkoech broke the news through Africa Gospel Church Tenwek Director Reuben Koech on Thursday afternoon that she was not ready to proceed with the wedding.
“She broke the news through a text message to the Rev Koech that she needed time to decide and her allegation that the church postponed the wedding is a big lie,” he said.
Rono, who spoke to The Standard at their home in Kapsoyo village, said at first she claimed she was still young and not ready to settle down for marriage but after being interrogated further, she revealed she had another man in her life.
“I met her on Thursday in Bomet town when we were processing clearance for the marriage certificate and later that day, she wrote the text and an emergency meeting was called by the Reverend who was supposed to preside over our wedding and it is during the meeting that she broke the news,” he said.
Rono now says he has decided to end his relationship with her and would no longer wish to marry her.
He said it was heart-breaking that his bride kept him in the dark until the last minute.
“We have enjoyed good relationships with her and I was shocked that she had not told me she had another man in her life,” he said.
“When I proposed to her, she accepted and we settled down on planning our wedding,” he added.
Rono said her last-minute revelation that she had another man in her life made him start connecting dots on recent events that transpired as they planned for the wedding.
“Imagine she convinced me that we should not organise a pre-wedding on grounds of financial constraints and instead organised a farewell at her local church in our absence,” he said.
Rono’s mother Sara Nyigei said Chepkoech’s revelation was heart-breaking but they have agreed to let her go.
“As a family, we have accepted her decision and she is no longer welcome as one of us in this family. We wish her all the best,” she said.
“When she first came, we welcomed her with open arms and we could not wait to see her marry my son but she has let us down and we will not accept to accommodate him here again,” Mrs Nyigei added.
Nyigei said the decision was wise to avoid a false and disruptive marriage.
“I can imagine how disruptive and chaotic their marriage would have been had she pretended and proceeded with the wedding,” she said.
Nyigei said as the groom’s family, they did everything with sincere hearts and even met part of the bargain for her dowry.
“As we speak, we have paid dowry for her and I don’t think we let Nelly’s family down in whatever way,” she said.
Nyigei, however, said they will not hold any grudge against her for her decision.
The wedding that was supposed to take place on Saturday at Kapsoyo Africa Gospel Church was called off at the last minute.
On their part, the bride and her family had indicated that they were willing to proceed with the wedding at a later date.
Speaking from their home in Sotik, the Rev Charles Tonui defended their daughter for the decision, apportioning blame to the church for postponing the wedding.
Postpone wedding
“As a family, we were ready to proceed with the weeding but the church asked us to postpone it to a later date,” he said.
Chepkoech, who spoke to the media with her father, said she loves Amos Rono and was looking forward to a new date for the wedding.
However, they have said the decision by the groom’s family to end the engagement has come as a surprise.
“We did not expect that the issue would go this far and we thought the church would give us direction after postponing the wedding,” said the bride’s father.
He, however, said they would not dispute the decision of Rono's family.
The church has kept quiet on the turn of events and has avoided inquiries from the media.
