http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/20072003/News/mainNews2007200336.html
Wambui is still our wife, claims Umira Kager clan By OWINO OPONDO Mrs Wambui Otieno's sensational marriage to a man 42 years her junior is off to a rocky start: Her former husband's clan yesterday asked her to quit getting into "sham and repugnant marriages" and go to Siaya to be inherited. The family of Mr Silvanus Melea 'SM' Otieno said as far as they were concerned, Wambui was still SM's wife and belonged to their clan and therefore has no right to be married to stonemason Peter Mbugua. To compound the happy couple's emerging problems, Mr Mbugua's 53-year-old mother, Florence Nyambura, is heartbroken over her son's marriage and said she was shocked he could do such a thing without seeking her blessings. Ms Nyambura, a single mother, vowed not to recognise Wambui as her daughter-in-law. "They came to see me when I was sick. My son told me the lady was her employer. He never told me they were lovers," she said, amid tears. She revealed that Mr Mubugua had a fiance, called Mugure, who he was scheduled to marry next month. Wambui's daughter, Ms Jane Otieno, her fourth child, who is 42, angrily vowed that her mother would live to regret "doing this to her family". And, to protect her young husband from a likely court battle over SM's estate, Wambui yesterday told the Sunday Nation that she is taking the precaution of putting Mr Mbugua in her will. She is disinheriting her children, whom she accused of neglecting her. At Nyalgunga, North Alego, Siaya District, where SM is buried after Wambui lost an epic court to bury him at their Upper Matasia home in Ngong, SM family members said her marriage was a sham because it "lacked in moral qualities and the necessary clan blessings required in wife inheritance". SM's family wants her to go to Nyalgunga and be inherited as required by traditions. The marriage has shaken Nyalgunga residents. SM Otieno's younger brother, Mr Joash Ochieng Ougo, 71, who played a starring role in Umira Kager clan's victory over Wambui, said yesterday: "Wambui is still ours because she never divorced SM when he was alive. I still consider her my sister-in-law because of the children she had with SM." Speaking at Nyalgunga, some 82km, Mr Ougo extended an olive branch to Wambui: "Even if Wambui died today, Umira Kager clan will ensure she is buried at Nyalgunga, next to SM Otieno's grave." SM's uncle, Mr Justo Oduor, Mr and Mrs Ougo showed the Sunday Nation a spot next to the graves of SM and his father Jairo Ougo Oyugi. SM's grave does not have a cross, a sign, according to the family, of some unfinished business: "We have not fixed a cross on his grave because we have been waiting for Wambui to return here with Otieno's children to make the ceremony complete," said Mr Ougo, 71. In Luo customs, a widow and all her children must attend post-burial ceremonies for her husband, including the laying of the cross. Wambui and her children boycotted SM's burial. Decisions on who inherits a widow are made by family members of the husband and his clan, said Mr Ougo, and condemned a widow's remarriage "at an advanced aged" as "wrong and repugnant". "I still treat Wambui as Otieno's widow. And I respect her decision to search for love. However, a woman who is more than 60 should not re-marry. That is repugnant." He blamed the Attorney-General for allowing such as "twisted" marriage saying it could give other ideas about "luring young men" into marriages and affairs. "That so-called wedding between my sister-in-law and Peter Mbugua is a sham and is devoid of a moral foundation," Mrs Ougo, said: "What Wambui did was scandalous." But the late SM's uncle, Justo Oduor was disgusted with Wambui's re-marriage, saying it "corrupted the morals of our children." "We have no problems with her. Let her first return our children, then she can continue wallowing in romance," he said. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com
