Residents of Emachembe Village in Kakamega County were treated to drama and rude shock after a Kakamega-based pastor surrendered his wife to a man he busted having sex with her in their matrimonial bed.

Angry family members and neighbours tied the man with ropes on one of the trees from the wee hours of the morning.

According to Harrison Olumbe, a Pastor of African Divine Church (ADC) in Kakamega, he had gone to attend the funeral of one of his church members at night in neighbouring Navakholo constituency before he received a phone call from one of his brother's children that his wife was not alone in the house.

"I informed my wife that I was going to offer spiritual support to one of my members who was bereaved but I received the shocking news that my wife had called a man and was cheating on me in my house," said Olumbe.

"I was further informed that the two had a good time in my bed before they were ambushed by my brother's two sons who heard a love-making noise emanating from my bedroom. My wife refused to open the door prompting the two to call for more people to help."

Olumbe said he was a devastated man but God granted him energy enabling him to travel back to his home at around 6 am where he found the man had been tied by ropes on one of the trees.

"I found my father, family members, and residents gathered in my compound and shockingly I saw a man I know very well who is from a neighboring area being tied to a tree for having sex with my wife," he said.

Happily ever after

The man of God said that based on his understanding of the scripture, he left his wife to the man so that the two can live together happily.

However, before he handed over his wife to the man, the visibly angry man of God gave the two a thorough beating before he controlled his anger.

"Bible forbids adultery and I have taken a final decision that I will no longer live with this woman and wholeheartedly I am handing her over to the man because it seems the two are in love and it will be better if they live together and have a happy life," said Olumbe.

Members of the two families sign an agreement to maintain the peace between them. [PHOTO: Bernard Lugisi]

"I know God will give me another good wife because I did not marry a wife to share with men but rather to be faithful and fully committed to me only. I therefore hand over her to her beloved man and order that she take all of her belongings and accompany the lover of her life."

According to Moses Atswenje, the father of the pastor, he was called by his two grandsons to intervene and find out who was inside his son's house.

"My grandson told me that they were sure and confident that my daughter-in-law was in the company of a different man. I went and knocked on the door while calling her but no one opened or answered. I decided to call for reinforcement from neighbours who arrived and after threatening to break the door the woman opened the door," said Atswenje.

"We were shocked to see a man we know very well sitting on the bed and after confronting him he argued that he had come to pick up his phone as an excuse we did not buy."

However, angry residents descended on the man and woman with blows before elders intervened and ordered the man to be tied to the tree to serve as an example to the rest.

Elders led by Atswenje interrogated the man and he admitted to having an affair with the woman for the last two months.

Furthermore, elders called for rituals to be conducted to chase away the spirit of adultery so that it cannot haunt the two young men who find out that a woman they call their mother was in a bed with another man.

"My grandsons are young men and they have a young family and as elders, we have discussed and agreed that they should undergo ritualistic cleansing so that what they saw does not haunt them because the woman is like their mother, and if we do not conduct rituals they are prone of being haunted by the spirit of adultery," he said. The family of the man came to his rescue and they signed a peace treaty to live in harmony alongside a memorandum of understanding that saw both sides of the families agreeing that the suspect should take the woman who had been handed over to him by the pastor.

Residents led by Isaac Murumba seconded the pastor's decision to hand over his wife to the man.

"This is a big shame and embarrassment and because the two seem to be in love we do not want to see the woman in this area let her go away with the man for the good sake of our next generation," said Murumba.

However, during the signing of the agreement, the cheating wife escaped through a maize plantation to an unknown place but the man agreed to take the woman as his wife as earlier told by the pastor.