Pastor sends pregnant wife packing 87 days after wedding, blames her for low tithe and congregation in his church

Apostle Kenneth Kiarie, 30, of God’s Covenant Holiness Church in Mihang’o, Kayole in Nairobi, told The Nairobian that he hurriedly married Marion Wagitu, 23, “because being a pastor, I needed a wife officially married in church.”

The two fell in love when Marion attended his church in June last year and the pastor saw in Marion a ‘humble rural girl.’

Two months later, Kiarie visited her parents in Murang’a to ask for her hand in marriage. By December, the pastor had requested for a wedding. It was granted and they were wedded in April this year.

Pastor Kiarie is said to have borrowed money to finance their wedding which has now left him in debt. But now, the pastor is being accused of throwing out his newly wedded wife for what are suspected as plans to marry another woman.

Even before the honeymoon was over, their marriage hit the rocks sometime in July, with both parties pointing accusing fingers at each other.

“He used to tell me that if I left, I would not get a husband, and that he had scores of beautiful girls hanging around him,” says Marion, who has since been allegedly thrown out of the marital home and is now back at her Murang’a village.

Marion says he married Kiarie because he is a pastor, but their marriage has been a bumpy one, with Kiarie allegedly blaming her for the declining congregation numbers and tithe amounts in his church, because of her odd behaviours in and out of the church.

“He blames me over a Sh70,000 debt he incurred to fund the wedding. He claimed I threw hot tea and stove at him and attempted to beat him in front of his parents,” says Marion, adding that the man of God often left her with Sh5 for cooking oil on grounds that she was a villager.

Kiarie swore in the name of God that the accusations were false. He instead accuses Marion of destroying their marriage through her weird behaviour, offensive words, attempt to assault him in front of friends and blood relations and accusing him of infidelity.

“Actually, that was the third time I chased her and it has now been successful. She wanted to control me but that is not African. I said we rather separate than have one of us dead,” he explains.