Intrigues that surrounded Wambui Otieno’s second marriage

By Kenneth Kwama

Nairobi, Kenya: The Cabinet-approved Marriage Bill 2013, which proposes spouses should have equal access to matrimonial property, couldn’t have come at a better time for one Peter Mbugua.

 Mbugua is the widower of former firebrand freedom fighter, Wambui Otieno. He is currently embroiled in a protacted legal battle with her children from her first marriage over property.

A decade ago today,  Wambui Otieno sparked a huge controversy by marrying Mbugua, 42 years her junior, at the Attorney General’s chambers. The East African Standard splashed the story with a picture of the couple entangled in a deep celebratory kiss.

“It was a mixture of shock, surprise and ululation when politician Wambui Otieno wed a man less than half her age yesterday,” is how the paper introduced the story’s headline, “Wambui Otieno, 67, weds man, 28.”

In the ensuing public debate, some said Mbugua married Wambui only for her money. He has since lodged a case in court contesting her will. He claims she was not mentally well when she wrote it.

Distribution of wealth

Wambui distributed her wealth, which includes cars, houses and money, among her 10 children and eight grandchildren. She gave her home in Karen to her daughter Gladwell Otieno and sons Jairus Ougo and Fredrick Munyua.

 The Upper Matasia, Ngong, home where she is buried and had wanted her first husband, lawyer SM Otieno, buried “according to his wishes”, was given to Jane Nunga and Lewis Waiyaki.

That is how Mbugua, who was believed to have worked as a carpenter at Wambui’s homestead in Ngong, shot to national fame, sparking off lively debates about whether or not it was normal for women to marry men younger than them.

Public interest in Wambui started when she was involved in a protracted legal tussle over her first husband’s (S M Otieno) burial place with his Umira Kager clan from Alego in Siaya District, following the lawyer’s death in 1986.

She lost the case to the clan after the High Court ruled that he was to be buried at his ancestral home and not at the couple’s home in Upper Matasia, as Wambui had wanted. The proceedings of the case were captured and serialised in the country’s dailies.

“Wambui, who was born on June 21, 1936, had planned a low-key private wedding ceremony with her sweetheart, Mbugua. But the combative and vocal politician got a rude shock when she discovered that the media had got wind of the event,” reported the paper.

None of Wambui’s children attended the wedding and the jovial bride was reluctant to reveal the nature of her husband’s profession.