It seems even in France, men always return to their old wives... in tears

By Peter Kimani

Kenya: Where I come from, we say a man returns to his old wife (presumably the first, in this age of polygamy) in tears. I’m not talking of the poor tea or coffee farmer who flees from home the moment he gets paid for the crop, and then returns after the loot has been exhausted – or most probably stolen.

I’m talking about men who break free of their women entirely and cut a new path, as French President Francois Hollande did with ex-partner Segolene Royal, and the mother of his four children. Royal is a politician in her own right and unsuccessfully ran for the 2007 presidential elections when she lost to Nicolas Sarkozy. She has been in the cold since.

Hollande left Royal to settle with long-time girlfriend, journalist Valerie Trierweiler but that relationship recently soured after Hollande was busted. He had been secretly filmed arriving for trysts with actress Julie Gayet.

It is unclear if Royal’s appointment to Hollande’s cabinet also means a return to his life. But then, anything is possible.

French ambivalence

Hollande is a politician and his party’s recent humiliation at municipal polls must have served as a wake-up call. He realised things are likely to be elephant in the future, more so if the rise of the right is seen as a confirmation of the French ambivalence towards Hollande’s lifestyle.

But then, the French really never cared about the private lives of public officials. Still, that’s a gamble Hollande is not willing to play. By mending fences at home, he hopes to rehabilitate his own dwindling political fortunes.