Marriages are built to last and some do survive the test of time while others break beyond repair hence an alarming rise of divorce and separation cases in Kenya.
While these unions are out of one’s own will, others are similar to hostage-taking cases only this time it is by the one you care about and devoted your life to.
Take for example the case of Mrs Meso, she is the wife of more than 25 years to one of Kenya’s brilliant minds in the agriculture sector, Agricultural Finance Corporation’s (AFC) Lucas Meso.
In a memoir seen by eKenyan, Mrs Meso describes her life for the past two decades as desolate, lonely and desperate.
She met and married Lucas at a tender age while still in school around 1990. She was a naïve young woman straight from the rural area and Lucas, well, he was a good-looking man who charmed his way into her heart.
But twenty-eight years later, she wants to leave him for a number of reasons, one being that he has tormented her physically, mentally and emotionally.
The marriage, which she describes as non-existent, ended two or more years later after moving in with Lucas. At the onset of the marriage, Mrs Meso met a school girl who her husband was being intimate with but brushed it off as she has other things.
Lucas, she says is a serial cheater who has women all over town, some influential and others, well underage.
Some of his mipango ya kando include Ann Sirima who she went to school with and at some point Ann’s sister, Judith. The other most significant woman in Lucas’ life was Pauline Olali formerly of Ecobank but has since left for Cooperative Bank.
So close was he with Ms Olali that she took care of his needs while he lived in Uganda for close to seven years. The two then went their separate ways after she accused him of forcing himself on her.
Others include a married Mary Waceke Muia Thongoh and Valentine Princess whose sister was employed at AFC as a supply chain manager only to leave when things did not work out with Mr Meso.
Mrs Meso also tells how women in high places have negatively influenced and had relations with Lucas including Sally Kosgei and Health CS Sicily Kariuki.
She recounts how she has over the years contracted Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) such as “cancerous Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), herpes, candidiasis, and skin patches (vitiligo), fungal and itchy complications solely caused by him from his sexual escapades and skin contacts, and currently witchcraft even involving destroying my private possessions like inner wears.”
According to her, her husband is a casanova who cannot get enough of women. But he apparently will not have any sexual contact with her hence turning to pornography.
Before giving up on the marriage about 10 years ago, she tried forcing herself on him only to be rejected. It is then that she discovered room service receipts for Serena Hotel. It is here he exercises every morning, she says.
Apart from his open promiscuity, his family is the other reason why her marriage failed. Lucas’ sister Wilkister of National Land Commission (NLC) was once her friend but has turned into a foe who has tried to drive her out of her home.
Many would then wonder why Mrs Meso, a lonely and dejected woman will not leave her husband. Furthermore, they do not children together nor property in both their names.
She notes that she once tried to leave her tormentor in 1998 but as fate would have it, she went back as he promised to change.
“My life never knew peace in the so-called marriage from inception to the time when I finally ran away from Lucas’ house in 1998 to rent and furnish my own place but came back because I had told God that if Lucas came for me I would return and if not, I would confirm that he was on the side of my tormentors, which he had long joined, unwilling to be with me, and openly treating me as a pariah, together with his father and siblings. Fortunately, but in reality, unfortunately, he came with church, stuck around and proved to both his family, “friends” and foes who never wanted me around that they were wrong to quickly jump to conclusions,” she says.
Years later, she has begged for him to let her go but he has threatened to take his life should she walk out the door. Afraid of what they (Meso family) will do to her, Mrs Meso has stayed put.
She also explains how people think to ask for handouts as they do her husband, a “philanthropic, christian” man.
Well, Mrs Meso is a civil servant who makes ends meet on her own, supporting her family and catering for all the household expenses. In fact, she explains, Lucas buys only what he needs and instead uses her as a house maid, tending to his needs.
He will sometimes hand her a Sh1,000 note but no more than that, she says. During the campaign period he gave her Sh100,000 which he had apparently received from Deputy President William Ruto. She gave it back.
Before joining AFC, Lucas had previously worked for the Central Bank of Kenya, East African Development Bank, Commercial Bank of Africa and the Co-operative Bank of Kenya which would then mean that he is a man of means.
But his wife in the memoir notes that Lucas does not own a thing, and whatever he owns has his Identity number entered wrong.
One case in particular is where she insisted on having the Busia title deed under both their names. Her ID number was wrong as his. But his handlers afterwards ensured that her name was completely taken out of the deal.
Having worked for over 20 years, the Mesos should at least own a home, but as Mrs Meso reiterates, they have for the past 28 years lived in rented homes mostly by Lucas’ employers.
They are now residing in Karen, a rented home that he dares not invite his friends or family in due to the sorry state it is in.
She further explains that his handlers take advantage of him and that is why they want her taken out of the picture. She says that she cringes at the thought of taking action against the Mesos, well, because she has in the past overheard conversations between Lucas’ brother C.J and others as he brags about eliminating the enemy.
C.J apparently has connections in the Flying Squad and has in the past noted that getting rid of competition is a small task.
She is now encouraging Lucas to follow in the footsteps of Ababu Namwamba, Moses Wetangula who have walked out of their marriages and set their women free.
She also hopes to one day walk out of the union that has seen her slip in and out of depression over the years.
So dire is her situation that she has also been diagnosed with Bipolar, a condition that Lucas uses against her but is to blame for.
In the detailed memo, Mrs Meso also expresses her want to be cremated once she dies. The only person allowed to eulogize her is her mother, she states.
“When I die, cremate me and let nobody apart from my mother eulogize me. I have told Lucas and my family for so long and they say I am crazy, but I mean it. My adult life and “married” life that I have lived for over two decades now, especially the last fifteen (15) years made me useless; unworthy of remembrance, hopeless, and in the last decade or so, redundant. As much as I thank God for His favours and blessings, I regret many things, major of them meeting your brother/Lucas, for that has been the greatest curse of my life (sic),” she adds.