Former National Assembly Speaker Francis Ole Kaparo is embroiled in a bitter divorce case with his wife of 40 years over adultery, dissertation and cruelty.
Married in 1981 and blessed with four children, Mary Mpereina Kaparo in papers filed in Kiambu courts accuses her estranged husband of eloping with another woman whom he lives with at Eden Vile.
According to Mrs Kaparo, the former National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) chair admitted to moving in with the woman identified as Korere Paulata, a Member of Parliament for Laikipia North.
In court papers seen by Nation, Mrs Kaparo revealed that the two started experiencing problems in 2017 and after several attempts to put the house in order things got worse after Mr Kaparo left the matrimonial home for the other woman without her consent.
"On several occasions, the respondent disappeared from the matrimonial home for a long period without any explanation at all, and he eventually went away," the court papers read in part.
"I never consented to the respondent marrying another woman... and would never agree to share a husband."
According to Mrs Kaparo, she is seeking divorce to protect rights to the vast matrimonial empire they acquired as a couple and also because "she cannot share a man".
Mr Kaparo also wants a paternity test to be conducted because Mr Kapara has been doubting her role in fathering the four children.
In a rejoinder, however, Kaparo has fired back at his wife saying she was the first to be adulterous and cruel to him.
According to him, her wife has been cohabiting with another man and that attempts to involve their relatives to solve the matter bore no fruits.
The former National Assembly Speaker revealed that the wife also abandoned her at the hour of need when he was hospitalised for four months.
According to Mr Kaparo, the wife never cared for him or even visited him in hospital.
“The respondent (Mr Kaparo) denies the allegations of cruelty, desertion and adultery and further avers that it is the petitioner who has been guilty of cruelty, adultery and desertion as herein specifically demonstrated," Kaparo said in his affidavit
“The petitioner deserted the respondent and did not even for one day visit him when he was sick and bedridden for five months in hospital."
Mr Kaparo adds that his estranged wife is a " constant drunkard," who often gets violent forcing him to leave their home at night to avoid getting physical.
Mr Kaparo says the wife was determined to have them end their marriage given that she frustrated every effort to mend fences.
“The petitioner has constantly caused physical, emotional and physiological torture on the respondent in an unprecedented measure of cruelty," Kaparo notes.
The two married under the Samburu/Maasai custom before solemnising their union through a Catholic church wedding.
They were blessed with four children namely Bernard Kaparo, Stella Kaparo, Saidima Kaparo and Susan Kaparo.
Justice Emile Ominde granted Mrs Kaparo her first win after ruling that a paternity test be conducted as the case awaits its mention on May 17 next year.
