The Ksh100 million Runda home Kitany allegedly built for Linturi

By Lenox Sengre

The Marianne Kitany-Mithika Linturi divorce hearing resumed on Wednesday, August 28, at the Milimani Law Courts, with Ms Kitany allowed to play a video comprising a collage of photos of their two homes in Runda, Nairobi and Maua in Meru.

Ms Kitany, in previous appearances in court, said that she single-handedly built the couple’s Runda home at a cost of Ksh100 million. The palatial residence is one of the magisterial properties the ex-partners are fighting over in their ongoing divorce row.

“When we were doing the design of the house, we involved all the children. Every child gave their suggestion; the girls were a bit flowery, whereas the boys were a bit subtle,” Ms Kitany told Milimani Commercial Court Chief Magistrate, Peter Ngare on Wednesday.

The Runda home that Ms Kitany displayed in court would easily be described as a structure that befits the comfortable living of Kenya’s top magnate.

Ms Kitany, a former chief of staff at Deputy President William Ruto’s office, also put on view the couple’s Maua home, going ahead to display pictures of the house from the time construction work was beginning to the what the final product looked like.  

“We demolished the smaller house and built a bigger one because we were now a larger family, made up of me, Linturi and our six children,” said Ms Kitany.

In her previous statements made in court, Ms Kitany said she spent at least Ksh36 million in renovating the Meru home.

“Just like the Runda house, we shopped together with Mithika Linturi for the finishing materials of the Meru house. I supervised and paid for the construction of that house. At that time, in June 2016, he bought me a ring,” said Ms Kitany.

The remarks by the ex-DP Ruto chief of staff come on the back of a bitter property row between the couple, with Ms Kitany suggesting Mr Linturi found her already-wealthy, whereas Mr Linturi claims that Ms Kitany is trying to “unlawfully” eat up into his property shares.

This disagreement over property saw Mr Linturi attempting to evict Ms Kitany from their Runda home in December, 2018. The court would later bar Mr Linturi from ejecting his wife from the contested property until their divorce case was heard and determined.

Ms Kitany told the court that Mr Linturi hired goons, who arrived at their Runda home in a 52-seater bus, and asked Ms Kitany and her children to ship out.

“On the night of December 19, 2018, my son was slapped by the goons. I, thereafter, told my children to go put up with my relatives in Nairobi. The goons came to my house carrying at least 9 pangas and 9 machetes, which were found in our Runda home the next day. Later, a lady came to my house and alleged that she had been hired to poison me,” said Ms Kitany.

The plaintiff further alleges that she is married to a violent man, “who beat me up once when we were in Meru”.

The hearing continues.