Brian Mukuyu, the husband of newly elected PF member of parliament for Zambezi West Christabel Ngimbu, says she has dumped him after being promised a ministerial job.
But Ngimbu says Mukuyu knows where her village is and should take his grievances there.
Mukuyu, a businessman, said in an interview that he had information that his wife had intentions of ditching him after winning the by-election.
He said he was shocked that his wife of 23 years and mother of his five children dumped him on their way to the official opening of Parliament in Lusaka.
“From reliable sources, I was told that ‘Even if you are working so hard, your wife has mentioned that as soon as she wins, she will have nothing to do with you; she will ditch you because you are not of her calibre or quality’. We have been in marriage for over 23 years. I married her when she was just a girl but to me, I took such information as mere speculation because I have five children with her. I can’t talk about any immoral behaviour,” he said.
Mukuyu said on their way to Lusaka to attend the official opening of Parliament, his wife accused him of having a girlfriend, whose phone number he had saved as ‘Sweetie’.
But Mukuyu said the number was his niece’s.
He said after he had explained to his wife about the number, Ngimbu told him that she would have nothing to do with him because he had become irrelevant.
“She told me, ‘When we reach Kabwe, I will leave your car, you are useless’. On our way to Lusaka, I stopped at a roadblock. She opened the door and jumped out [of the car] and ran into the bush and disappeared around 20:00 hours. We couldn’t find her, so we continued (driving) with my nephew. At home, the children asked me ‘Daddy, where is mummy?’ I was speechless; I couldn’t tell them. What could I tell them? I just told them she’s coming and went into the bedroom. From that day to this moment I am speaking, I have not seen her. All I know is that on Friday, I didn’t want to see her (on TV during the official opening of Parliament) because my heart was broken. I am told from reliable sources that she ditched me because I was irrelevant to her and she was going to be appointed as a minister and she will need high-quality men. She bragged that she would be a minister, so she had nothing to do with me. Now look at the effort, resources involved to help her win the Zambezi West campaign, my time and energy!” he said.
Mukuyu said he had not recovered from the shock and wondered what had gone wrong with a wife he sponsored to the University of Zambia.
“She has ditched me. I am nowhere, I am in despair, I have no access to anything on her. I don’t know how I am going to look after my family. I don’t know what I am going to do. This is the predicament in which I am. I don’t know because all my effort, time, energy and resources were injected to promote her and PF. I have done my best. I have done what I could to bring her to victory. Her phones are off. She’s unreachable… 23 years of marriage.
This is a critical embarrassment on my part. Your friend says ‘I have ditched you, you have no business with me, I am going for other people better than you!’ And the intention to ditch me was previously there, is it wise that I should start going round Lusaka looking for her? This is her home. Parliament is a temporary thing but this is her home,” said Mukuyu.
Asked whether he could consider reconciling with her, Mukuyu said he didn’t know what to do.
“To tell you the truth, I am in shock. I am a sick man the way you see me today. I can’t say anything. It is something I never thought would happen to me and my family. I don’t know what will happen, my brother. My relatives are aware. I don’t know about her relatives,” said Mukuyu.
But Ngimbu advised Mukuyu to take his grievances to her village.
“I have no comment to make for this because it is against marriage ethics to discuss marriages in the media. I am surprised he told you that. I have a village where he married me from and if he has a problem, he can go to my village,” said Ngimbu.