Court orders eviction of Marianne Keitany from ex-husband Mithika Linturi's Runda house

Aldai MP Marianne Keitany. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Aldai MP Marianne Keitany has lost a second bid to stop her ex-husband, Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi from evicting her from his house in Runda.

Chief Magistrate Wendy Michemi lifted an order she issued on February 15 stopping Bealine Auctioneers from evicting Keitany from the disputed house owned by Linturi, ruling that her case challenging the eviction was incompetent.

"Her application challenging the eviction is hereby dismissed. The officer commanding Runda Police Station and in his absence, any other police officer above the rank of assistant inspector of police is ordered to provide security and police officers to assist in evicting her from the house," ruled the magistrate.

The magistrate had initially given auctioneers and the Agriculture CS permission to evict the MP from House Number 16 MAE Ridge County Villas situated in Runda within Nairobi County but suspended the order after she appealed for a review.

The auctioneers had applied to evict Keitany after the Court of Appeal in September last year dismissed her application to block her estranged husband from evicting or interfering with their palatial matrimonial property.

Ms Keitany had moved to the Court of Appeal seeking to bar Linturi and Atticon Limited, a company associated with him, from evicting her or interfering with the Runda property.

However, Court of Appeal judges Hannah Okwengu, Jamilla Mohammed, and Mbogholi Msagha found her application lacked merit as she has obtained similar orders from a divorce case before the Milimani magistrate court.

According to the bench, Keitany did not deny that she had obtained other orders from the lower court in her favour.

She had moved to the appeals court after Lands Court judge Edward Wabwoto dismissed her application seeking similar orders as those in her divorce case.

In her appeal, Keitany told the court that she had a huge stake in the property. According to her, she invested Sh71 million in the construction of the house and furnishing it and Linturi had invested nothing in the property during the subsistence of their marriage.

While urging the three-judge bench to tilt the scales of justice in her favour, Keitany asserted that her appeal will be rendered useless if the court did not intervene.

According to Keitany, her estranged husband had allegedly previously used the property as security for a loan without her consent adding that there is a danger of him either alienating, selling or further using the same as security for a loan.

Keitany faulted Justice Wabwoto arguing that he ought to have considered if the lower courts that are handling four separate cases on the same property have powers to determine land issues and give orders that she was seeking

Linturi, on the other hand, opposed the appeal. He stated that he is Atticon's director. According to him, his estranged wife had filed multiple cases before the court on the same issue.

He accused her of abusing the court process adding that her appeal would not be rendered useless if the application is dismissed.

The Appellate Court agreed with him and dismissed Keitany's appeal, which led to the subsequent application by the auctioneers to evict her.