Mary Kilobi, a former Makerere University student and Kiswahili news anchor was recently married off by her family to Kenya’s rich trade unionist Francis Atwoli, to become the third wife and says she is happy to join her co-wives in sharing the mzee’s love.
According to sources in Kenya, Ms Kilobi’s first encounter with Atwoli was way back in 2005, when she was a student at Makerere University pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature and Kiswahili and an intern at Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) in Kampala at the time, where the union boss had come for an interview.
“Someone in the newsroom alerted me that there was a Kenyan working there. Naturally, I got interested in meeting that person,” says Atwoli who is quoted he exchanged pleasantries and contacts with Kilobi.
Six years later, when she returned to Kenya, Kilobi and Atwoli opened lines of communication and the the mzee who immediately expressed his undying love for her.
Mary’s father Samson Weyusia, says the daughter has officially been handed over to Atwoli, a man he once met in Kajiado following an invitation. Weyusia says he knew Wanami as a friend to Kilobi, but not husband.
Social media in Kenya last week was awash with the news of the seemingly jilted Bungoma politician Jack Wanami Wamboka,35, who said that Atwoli, eloped with Kilobi who was his “wife,” even though the KTN anchor’s father says they were just friends and that he was not serious.
But Kilobi has dismissed Wanami as a joker out to ruin her blossoming marriage to the 69-year-old veteran trade unionist.
“I love Atwoli, he is a caring man who is always there for me. Given another chance, I will still fall in love with him,” May is quoted as saying.
She describes her husband as a responsible man who comes home straight from work. The couple lives at their IIbisil home in Kajiado after Atwoli finally won her heart in 2016.
She says Atwoli told her he was lonely and needed a wife and challenged him to visit her parents and make his intentions known if he was serious. “He readily responded by sending a delegation to the village about two months ago,” she is quoted saying
The two started living as man and wife after Atwoli fulfilled the Luhya traditional formalities.
Kilobi is happy that Atwoli is now there for her since “he showers me with love and always shows genuine concern. He calls several times during the day to check on me. I am with him because of love, not money.”
“I have many wives, but I snatched none of them from any marriage. Before I get hold of a woman, I do enough background check with the family to ascertain that she is not married to another man,” Atwoli is quoted as saying.
“If we don’t marry many wives, who will marry our daughters? I am encouraging my sons to marry more than three wives so that we can reduce the population of unmarried women. It’s a taboo in our community to bury our daughters where they were born. They must be married somewhere,” said the unionist is quoted as saying.
[…] is a husband to three wives among them Roselinder Simiyu, Jenifer Khainza Atwoli, and the Mary Kilobi of […]