My wife didn't keep secrets, says husband of slain NHIF employee
Ms Lilian Waithera who was shot dead on February 13, 2023 in Nairobi Central Business District at Kaunda street.
The husband of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) employee who was killed by a mysterious bullet in Nairobi on Monday now says his wife was not a witness in any case that might have made her a target.
Mr Paul Mbogo says Mary Lilian Waithera Gathenya, who was always candid with him, could have told him of the case if that were true.
“She was not a witness of anything. Mary never hid anything from me. Even when she sneezed during the day, when we met in the evening she would tell me,” he said, making the gathering laugh.
He made the remarks at his Nairobi home on Saturday afternoon while addressing parents from the school where one of the couple’s two sons is a Grade Four pupil. The other boy is in Form Three.
“I loved her so much,” he said. “I love her and I’m devastated.”
Mr Mbogo said it was love at first sight when he met her in 2006.
“The day I saw her, I knew she was the one. And from that day, she has never gone to her parents or anywhere that we have had some fighting or anything. People say marriages have ups and downs. I have never had a down in my marriage,” he said.
“My neighbours, my family have never heard that my wife has gone back home because we have had fights. It was a perfect match.”
He described her as a loving woman who had a strong bond with him.
“She was close to me, and many people used to tell us our relationship was very abnormal. And I told them, ‘Let it be as abnormal as it can be.’ It is because we were each other’s comforters,” he said.
The event provided a sobering reminder that beyond the headlines, beyond the conspiracies and the political comments, is a community in grief and two boys who will never see their mother walk through the gate of the quiet family home again.
Mr Mbogo complained of the media attention he has been receiving, saying journalists have been insensitive.
“Reporters have been coming here every day, every single day. And they are not even compassionate. They don’t care. They write many things in the papers; that we have refused to give them interviews; how we should be investigated,” he said. “They have been camping here night and day. But sina nguvu ya kuwapatia interview .”
He fell short of updating the gathering on the state of investigations into the shooting.
“I don’t want to say what the government is doing or what it’s not doing. That is not even near me. What I know: we were robbed. We were robbed of our love,” said Mr Mbogo.
The family has called for assistance in raising Sh700,000 to organise the burial of the 46-year-old, which will be held this Friday.
