Wambui Otieno's wedding. Photo credit: Hezron Njoroge, Daily Nation

1. Wambui Otieno and Peter Mbugua

Wambui Otieno rose to prominence following a custody battle with her deceased husband's clan over the rights to bury her husband, SM Otieno at their home in Upper Matasia, Ngong. The long drawn court hearings ended with a ruling in favour of the clan, upholding oppressive customary laws often used against women. Ever a political and social provocateur, Wambui Otieno once again grabbed the nation's attention at 67 years old when she married 28 year old Peter Mbugua.
The ensuing derisive public debates dismissed the nuptials, pointing out that Mbugua agreed to the union only for the money. Despite the odds stacked against them, the two remained married for nine years until Wambui passed away on December 30th 2011. In 2013, Peter Mbugua contested his wife's will claiming she didn't have the necessary mental capacity to write her will due to illness. The will named her daughters, Gladwell Otieno and Rosalyn Otieno as personal representatives to her vast estate, which was distributed among her children and grandchildren.

2. Gikonyo and Ernestine Kiano

History recounts a curious time in June 1966, when former president Moi, then minister for Home Affairs, stepped in to solve a marriage problem. Gikonyo had had enough of his African-American wife Ernestine Hammond, whose disdain for social restrictions often led to behaviour that was 'unseemly' for a politicians wife. In order to avoid outrightly divorcing her, Gikonyo, then minister for Commerce and Industry, called in a favour from Moi, who arranged her deportation on the grounds that she had shown "herself by act and speech to be disloyal and disaffected towards Kenya."
A firebrand feminist, Ernestine organised the Emancipation of Women Seminar at State House, Mombasa (then Government House) in April 1963 and was the first black woman elected in a leadership position at Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA).
https://twitter.com/HistoryKE/status/930471957073600512

3.  Tom Mboya and Pamela Odede

In January 1962, Tom Mboya married Pamela Odede, his sweetheart and a beneficiary of his famous student airlifts to the United States. The ceremony, which took place at St Peter Claver's church, was attended by East Africa's political elite, including Jomo Kenyatta, Mutesa II (the 35th Kabaka of Uganda and Buganda's First President) and Charles Njonjo, who was his best man.
The wedding was featured in an April 1962 edition of Ebony Magazine.

About The Author

Author
Alix Grubel

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