A pastor identified as Apostle Kenneth Kiarie of the God’s Covenant Holiness Church in Mihang’o, Kayole in Nairobi has reportedly called off his 87-day-old marriage, sending his 23-year-old pregnant wife, Marion Wagitu packing, and blaming her for the decline in church members and tithe amounts in the church.
The 30-year-old pastor told The Nairobian that he married Wagitu in a hurry “because being a pastor, I needed a wife officially married in church,” adding that the wedding he borrowed money to finance had now left him in debt.
It was learnt that the two fell in love when Wagitu, whom he saw as a ‘humble rural girl’ attended his church.
The pastor is, however, being accused of sending his new wife away to marry another woman.
Wagitu, who is now back at her Murang’a village, said, “He used to tell me that if I left, I would not get a husband, and that he had scores of beautiful girls hanging around him.”
Wagitu told the newspaper that she married Kiarie because he is a pastor, but their marriage has been full of crisis with Kiarie allegedly blaming her for the declining congregation number and tithe amounts in his church, because of her odd behaviours in and out of the church.
She added, “He blames me over a Sh70,000 debt he incurred to fund the wedding. He claimed I threw hot tea and stove at him and attempted to beat him in front of his parents.”
Wagitu added that the man of God often left her with Sh5 for cooking oil on the grounds that she was a villager.
However, Pastor Kiarie denied the accusation by Wagitu, accusing Wagitu of destroying their marriage through her weird behaviour, offensive words, attempt to assault him in front of friends and blood relations and accusing him of infidelity.
Kiarie said, “Actually, that was the third time I chased her and it has now been successful. She wanted to control me but that is not African. I said we rather separate than have one of us dead.”
“She even said I never bought her underwears. I don’t consider her sober and I want her sanity checked. I believe nobody can stay with her unless she changes.”
Kiarie says events that followed the wedding left him broke and unable to cater for her and their unborn baby.
He added, “I did not want to send her away. I have never assaulted her, but being a pastor, everybody thinks I am the problem. A wife means a lot to a man, but Marion is not worth living with. She will harm me.”
However, both admitted that the four months they courted was too short to really know each other.
“We had not shared a house or bed before we wedded,” says Kiarie.
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