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Some jungu men have no second thoughts marrying your wife as long as the relationship guarantees them citizenship.
That way, the can do business, secure their wealth more easily. When all is in order, why not divorce and you can have your wife back?
Well, that is not a scene from, Indecent Proposal, the 1993 fi lm starring Demi Moore as Diana Murphy, but a proposal from an odiero to Joseph Njoroge, a resident of Ngong Racecourse.
“Marriage certifi cate or some papers to prove they are Kenyans is all they want when they marry locals,” says Njoroge who was approached with the request of the jungu marrying his wife at the Attorney General’s office and once he becomes a legit Kenyan they would terminate the nuptial and give her part of the wealth.
“They have money but they suffer when they want to start business or buy property. The easier way is such arrangement but at times our people are shortchanged after the ‘marriage’.
Sometimes the deal doesn’t go as planned,” says Njoroge who declined the o er and instead, the elderly odiero is banking on him to convince a young woman to accept his marriage proposal.
“We have visited her several times and the plans are working. He is ready to pay the dowry according to African traditions but wants the civil marriage,” explains Njoroge.
He says most of these odieros are divorcees who have lived here briefl y and are afraid as their properties are often targeted by grabbers who collude with officials in the Ministry of Lands.
“They have been paying land rates to the Association devotedly, but at the same time, an unknown person is paying rates to the county government for the same property,” says
Rose Karo- bia, the Communications Manager for the Karen and Lang’ata District Association (KLDA). She says “ a search at the Lands ministry shows the mzungu owns the property but the county have a different person as the owner.
You wonder when and how the property changed ownership to Kenyan. We have won one such case and we will pursue more complains.”
In the last two decades the 76-year-old association has been exempted from paying land rates to the local authorities over the council’s misuse of funds.
-James Mwangi
