Wives go abroad, ditch husbands

A court ordered a woman to pay Sh20,000 in maintenance to her husband, whom she separated with close to two decades ago.

The woman was ordered to pay the money monthly until her former husband remarried or he passed away.

The man told the court that his wife was as good as dead to him as she left the country and never returned.

Justice Rose Ougo took the unusual decision noting that he was entitled to the pay as he had assisted her to rise to her current position.

"I cannot think of a better case where a wife should maintain the husband. The court has the discretion to order the amount of maintenance," Justice Ougo ruled.

The man, who had never communicated with the woman since they parted ways, had no means of earning an income.

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In a similar case also filed before Ougo, a woman left the country for further studies one month into her marriage, never to return again.

Efforts by her husband to reach her were fruitless.

"It appears that the respondent (woman) has lost interest in the marriage and the petitioner is denied the right to companionship in view of which I find that the marriage is irretrievably broken down," the judge said.

The court heard that the couple did not have children when the woman left.

The man told the judge that he tried to get to her through her family to no avail. At one time, he said, the woman was in the country but did not make any efforts to reach to him.