A bizarre scandal has engulfed a Kenyan televangelist. The Nairobi Nation reports:
Renowned tele-evangelist Margaret Wanjiru yesterday disputed claims by a man who says he married her in 1979 under common law.
She said her wedding to her South African fiancee [sic] would go on as planned on February 10.
…Mr James Kamangu Ndimu, 51, made the claims just days after the tele-evangelist introduced to her congregation a South African, Mr Samuel Matjeke, as her fiancee.
…But Mr Kamangu claimed he is Bishop Wanjiru’s husband as per Gikuyu customs, having paid Sh3,000 dowry in the late 1970s. Mr Kamangu said the two lived together as man and wife between 1978 and 1983, when they separated following domestic rows.
Bishop Wanjiru, who was a witch before becoming an evangelist, responded in bullish mood:
…Appearing stung by the reports carried exclusively by NTV and the Sunday Nation yesterday, Bishop Wanjiru told a cheering congregation at her Jesus is Alive Ministries that she would not “take any nonsense from anybody. I can twist their necks like that of a chicken.”
The Nation followed up with witnesses:
Bishop Wanjiru’s former neighbours at Gachie as well as people who claimed to be her relatives by customary marriage, told Nation that they knew she was Mr Kamangu’s wife.
“Not once but many times did she run to my home and seek refuge after she was beaten by Kamangu,” said Mrs Nelly Wainaina a retired Telkom employee.
Also:
…Kamangu…got records from Pumwani Maternity Hospital in Nairobi, indicating that Bishop Wanjiru at one time used the name Kamangu as the father of at least one of her sons on an official document.
But when told about the document, the preacher laughed it off on the telephone and said: “As my son said at the press conference, the matter rests there.”
The East African Standard gives a bit of context:
Before one “jigger-infested man” came to the scene recently, Wanjiru’s degree of honesty was almost legendary. It was unquestionable.
What else can you say of a woman who readily confesses of having been a witch? Witchcraft, whether as a current or past profession, is one of the worst things anyone would like to be associated with.
She recently told the world that she was a mother of children whose father’s whereabouts she did not know – in fact she was not sure whether he was alive or dead. Wanjiru confessed of loneliness and said she would unveil a man she plans to tie the knot with and live happily thereafter.
The bishop advised Ndimu to go hang on the nearest tree “and we will do a funeral”. She made reference to his not-well-off status and observed that he looked like a man that jiggers have been making a meal out of. Wanjiru should have known better.
In a country where more than three quarters of the population live below the poverty line, mocking ones mean’s – or lack of it – is not only an insult to the targeted individual, but it is also an affront to millions of others who belong to the same category.
Wanjiru went on to offer an apology to the Kenyan people, but the PR disaster just keeps getting worse:
The mind-bending saga of the private life of multi-millionaire Bishop Margaret Wanjiru turned messy and chaotic on Wednesday.
Other than a sudden unexplained power blackout at her church – during which she sneaked out of it – her minders molested a photojournalist sparking off mayhem at a press conference she had called to apologise to Kenyans.
A bodyguard has now appeared in court:
Bishop Margaret Wanjiru’s bodyguard, Mr Michael Thuku Kaunga, has been hauled before a city court on charges of assaulting a photojournalist.
Kaunga, who was arraigned before Nairobi Senior Principal Magistrate, Mrs Rosemelle Mutoka allegedly assaulted Ms Rebecca Nduku, of The Standard and injured her…
Wanjiru claims that she was once a Satanist; the Standard again has the background details:
…She brags how she once bewitched a woman who had attempted to mess up her business: “One woman tried to play poker with my business enterprise, the same woman who had introduced me to Black Magic. I bewitched her and she went bonkers.”
…She said the woman had attempted to use Black Magic on her unaware she had graduated into White and Red witchcraft.
…Her fortunes kept rising: “I was swimming in money, with luxury cars. But there was a born-again business rival whom I wanted cleared out of my way.
“The members of my Red witchcraft group said to me: ‘You will surrender your soul to the devil 100 per cent, irreversibly. You have one week to decide’.”
She says it was during this time that she encountered a Nigerian evangelist and accepted Jesus as her personal Saviour in March 1990.
Further details appear in Charisma magazine:
…Still spiritually hungry, Wanjiru next attended a deliverance seminar. During the service, to her dismay, the preacher prophetically stated: “There is a woman here. You are involved in satanism, and you have cursed another woman with madness. Come forward!”
Wanjiru waited until the end of the meeting to approach the preacher. “I know someone who has done what you said,” she said to him. Wanjiru had herself done it to a woman who used to work for her.
“Look for the woman you have bewitched,” the preacher told her. “Say to her: ‘In the name of Jesus Christ, be healed,’ and she will recover.”
Amazed that the preacher knew what Wanjiru had done, she did as he had instructed.
“My former employee instantly regained her mind.” Wanjiru said. “She even remembered what I owed her in salaries and benefits.”
A couple of months ago, Wanjiru announced her political ambitions, in an interview that showed refreshing honesty:
Tele-evanglist, Bishop Margaret Wanjiru Kariuki of the Jesus is Alive Ministry, says her goal in entering politics is to seek the presidency.
Wanjiru said she hopes to use the Starehe parliamentary seat as a stepping-stone for her presidential bid.
…”It does not matter which party I use. The end will justify the means, but you can be sure I will be in the ruling party. I cannot spoil my image by joining a losing party,” declared Wanjiru.
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