Why rich politician left my bed - Ex-wife

Business tycoon and politician Suleiman Shabhal is "moody, sulky and promiscuous", his estranged wife Rose Wambui Wahito has sensationally claimed in divorce papers filed before the Kadhi's court in Nairobi.

Rose is seeking to divorce Shabhal, who lost the Mombasa Gubernatorial election to Ali Hassan Joho in 2013, because he deserted their matrimonial home four years aho. She also wants him compelled to pay a spousal support of Sh750,000 pending the hearing of the petition because she is unable to make ends meet.

The tycoon's estranged wife claims she has laboured under undue cruelty from the husband who has been keeping out of the house and enjoying a promiscuous life with a cabal of women within his office and enjoying to the fullest, unlimited casual sex.

Rose Wambui Wahito Shabhal moved to the Kadhi's court in Nairobi seeking dissolution of their marriage of 17 years through lawyer Conrad Maloba. Court documents show she was married to Shabhal on June 18, 1999 under the repealed Islamic Marriages Act Cap 154 Laws of Kenya after cohabiting for two years. The ceremony was conducted in Mombasa at Shabhal's parents' house before a Kadhi.

After solemnization of their marriage, Rose says they set up their matrimonial home in Nairobi before they both moved to Muscat in the Islamic Republic of Oman where her husband took up employment as Head of Private Banking at Bank Muscat. Rose claims she moved in as a house wife after Shabhal forced her to close down her thriving and prosperous business ventures on the insistence of her husband. This, she says, made her wholly dependent on Shabhal.

As a result, she claims, she is unable to make ends meet and has been served by an eviction notice from her landlord effective end of this month for arrears rent totaling to Sh410,000.

"Ever since my husband deserted me and refused to support me, I have been leaving on handouts and the goodwill of friends, particularly my sister Julie Ramdas who took me in together with my Daughter Diana. She offered us accommodation at her home in Kileleshwa at Swiss cottages and then at the Taj View Apartments in Kileleshwa," Rose says in the court papers.

She states that she is currently unemployed and has been trying to engage in billboard advertising through her company Rahito Trading. She claims Shabhal has been providing infrequent spousal support of an average of Sh300,000 which amount is inadequate and "prohibits her from living in a manner that is even reasonably compared to the lifestyle the family lived before their separation".

"This dramatically impacts on my ability to adjust to an already altered lifestyle as a result of my husband's abandonment of our family,

Rose claims that Shabhal has a very stable business owning vast assets and a significant fortune. He is currently the Chairman and the majority shareholder of Gulf Group of Companies that owns several other business entities including the Gulf African Bank (where he is the CEO), Gulf Energy and Coast International University among other gigantic business ventures. She says his monthly turnover is more than Sh20,000,000.

According to Rose, before his desertion, Shabhal frequently and habitually indulged in extreme fits of moodiness and silence which to his knowledge isolated her from him and caused her extreme distress and severe anxiety.

"When my husband was not yelling and shouting at me, he would sulk and mope and leave the matrimonial bed only to return in the wee hours of the morning ready to go to work," Rose says.