Diaspora Returnee and Newly Elected Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika Embroiled in Child Custody Feud

Former US-based lawyer and newly-elected Nakuru County Senator Susan Kihika is embroiled in a family feud surrounding children custody.

A billionaire businessman said to be her husband has been sued by his first wife, where she accuses the senator of mistreating her children who are in custody of the husband and living with Kihika.

Beatrice Wanjiku, billionaire businessman Sam Mburu’s first wife has moved to the Chief Magistrates Court in Nairobi to have her estranged husband denied custody of their two children because his wife (Susan Kihika) “hates them”.

“The children have complained to me about the applicant’s wife who hates the children, orders them away from her and violently swears at them that she never wants to see them again. When the stepmother is asked why she behaves that way, she says the children are ‘grumpy’ and call her grandy on account of her advanced age,” Wanjiku states in an affidavit.

Wanjiku wants the court to deny Mburu the consent order of custody of children issued in 2013, arguing that “his current wife is mean to her children whenever they visit their father in his new home”.

“I am further informed by the children that when they spend time with their father, the applicant is always away from home and if custody of the children is granted to the applicant, he would subject them to the whims and mercies of an absentee dad, stepmother, mistress or simply other women,” she claims.

Susan, who is 10 years older than Mburu, is believed to be the businessman’s third wife and the couple resides in Susan’s posh Karen home. Mburu is said to be behind the senator’s flashy campaign, flanked by branded choppers and fuel guzzlers.

In the suit, Wanjiku demands a monthly Sh757,000 maintenance allowance and custody of the children following her separation from Mburu after he met Susan, a US-trained lawyer and politician.

“The plaintiff is a fabulously wealthy man and it is true the costs and standards of living at our Kilimani home is Sh757,000 per month. This is the standard the plaintiff set for his family. I know the plaintiff has a mischievous plan to turn me and the children into destitutes (sic) by denying us finances and forcing us to live in the less agreeable parts of the city.”

Wanjiku lists Mburu’s assets, including Landmark Freight Services, which has two branches in China and rakes in profits estimated at Sh10 million monthly.

“I have been part and parcel of my husband’s wealth. Until the year 2010, I had a steady job as a personal assistant to the managing director of the New Kenya Cooperative Creameries and taking home a package of Sh130,000. My husband persuaded me to leave my job and run the business of selling electrical goods in a shop along River Road.

“Because the plaintiff intends to leave me and the children permanently, it is in the best interests of justice that he makes immediate provisions for the family’s upkeep and pay a lump sum to secure the children’s upkeep for the next two years. I would fix the amount at Sh767,000 per month for two years, which amounts to Sh18,168,000,” she told the court.