When Esther Arunga walked into the press conference room on Thursday to set the record straight, she was a new woman.
The humble and sweet face that united Kenyans in loving her was gone and, in its place, was a blank stare. The sweet voice that wooed us all to watch the news religiously was no more. A more aggressive, almost combatant voice, had taken residence instead.
For someone who viciously protected her private life, Esther Arunga was sparing no words to express her disappointment with what she described as ‘‘stupid journalism’’ and garbage reporting.
Full of contempt, Arunga, dressed in all black, could not explain why she chose to live with a married man in his house while she could afford to live comfortably on her own.
“I am almost 30 and I can live wherever I want,” she said spinning her neck.
Some questions she did not even have to answer. “That’s a stupid question,’’ she shot back.
The irony was that one of the most notable faces on television was talking trash about the media in general which she was a part of until a week ago and quit because “I wasn’t being paid enough.”
But she contradicted herself severally, telling the media that she quit because of a low salary but later saying she will sue the media but not for financial gain.
“You can keep your money,” she yelled.
Nobody knows how much money she is making by being the director of Hellon’s music company which handles all of his live performances to make her quit her job.
But, once in a while, the girl that Kenyans came to love would jump from behind the stern look and smile or say something but this would be hurled back to where it came from.
As Hellon talked, she agreed to every word he said while his wife was seated next to him silent only smiling occasionally.
The moment of the week came when she went hard on her ex-fiancé, Wilson Malaba, whom she accused of cheating on her and not having his finances in order.
Two cancelled wedding ceremonies in one year. Arunga said her first wedding was affected by long distance and, of course, the most recent one was because of infidelity. She called off both weddings.
Asked whether it was true Hellon had, through his spiritual dad in the US (said to be Benny Hinn) given her someone to love, she said “Not true” and changed the subject.
As for Hellon, he was not offended by all the negative publicity about his church or dealings with Arunga. He said the media had helped him launch his political career.
“No news is bad news,” he told a packed press conference and in what can only be said to be a brilliant way to divert all the attention, he decided to announce his candidature for the 2012 presidency with Esther as his running mate.
Asked why he was not fazed by all the publicity, Hellon said: “I want to lead a country of 40 million people, so such a small story cannot scare me.”
Enter Wilson Malaba, the man at the centre of it all - Esther’s ex-fiancé.
Although he won’t admit it, Wilson Malaba is a very distraught man. Up until Sunday, February 7, it was all systems go for the couple’s wedding plans.
In fact, on that Sunday, Wilson’s family visited the Arunga family at their home in Kileleshwa to firm up the plans.
The following day (February 8), they spent most of the afternoon together at his office from where Arunga left to read the news on KTN at around 7 p.m.
“From that point everything was okay until the following evening when I started receiving SMSs from Hellon about how I killed his child, how I was planning to kill Esther in a road accident, and my expulsion from the church,” said Wilson.
He tried to call Esther but she wouldn’t answer his calls or reply to his SMSs. The only one that came from her was the one breaking their engagement, saying it was from guidance from Esther’s spiritual father (Hellon).
“The accusations of killing someone or plotting to kill my fiancee were very disturbing and that is why I decided to inform the authorities,” says Wilson.
Wilson also denies having any children and even offers to put up a paid newspaper advert asking anyone who has his child to come out in public.
“It’s all totally false and I am willing to go the entire length including the advert and doing DNA tests to prove that I have not fathered any child,” he said with an anger laden voice.
Wilson was at the Kilimani Police Station when Hellon was brought in to record a statement. With Hellon were Esther Arunga and Quincy Timberlake.
Wilson says that Esther refused to talk to him. Hellon was arraigned in a Kibera court and was released on a cash bail of Sh20,000.
Since then, Esther has refused to leave Hellon’s house in Runda and only appeared in public at the press conference on Thursday. According to Wilson, she wasn’t even accessible to her parents who have been very worried about her.
Wilson and Esther met in early 2008 but at that time, Esther was engaged to someone else, a pilot. However, it was only after Arunga broke her engagement with the pilot in October of 2008 when she and Wilson became an item.
At the time of their meeting, Esther Arunga was already a member of the Finger of God Ministries International – the church in question.
“It is Esther who persuaded me to join and I did so in May last year,” he recalls.
Wilson was already a pastor, ordained at the Redeemed Gospel Church, although he was not actively preaching. Naturally, he found it easy to join the church leadership when invited to do so by Hellon.
“Everything was fine and there was nothing out of the ordinary until some guy called Quincy Timberlake joined,” recalls Wilson.
The official word at the time, and what Hellon repeated at the press conference, was that Quincy was Hellon’s childhood friend who had just returned from the UK and was back to do music with Hellon and help him run the church.
Later it emerged that Quincy was actually sent by famous televangelist Benny Hinn to help Hellon with the ministry.
According to Wilson, Hellon is not a bad person but has been deceived by Quincy who claims to be a go-between between Hellon and ‘‘Benny Hinn’’.
Emails purported to be conversations between ‘‘Benny Hinn’’ and Hellon, and which have been seen by Buzz, appear to be a conversation between the two.
From the emails, it appears as though Pastor Hinn was giving daily advice to Hellon including advising Hellon against Wilson and Esther’s marriage.
Instead, in one of the emails, Pastor Hinn advises Esther to marry Quincy.
According to Wilson, he got the emails from a former member of the church who was fired by Hellon when she complained about his association with the women staying in his house.
The lady in question happened to have had Hellon’s password and is willing to stand by the allegations in public. We have since established the identity of the lady but nothing different has come forth.
At the press conference, however, Hellon rubbished the authenticity of the emails branding them ‘‘fake’’ and being used to tarnish his name and that of the organisation.
On Friday, a Nairobi newspaper reported that ‘‘Benny Hinn’’ had denied knowledge of Hellon or even his ministry.
Also, it has to be noted that opening an email in someone’s name is very easy and someone could have easily opened an email account pretending to be Hinn.
So, did Hellon believe that he was talking to the real Hinn when it could have been someone with the fake email even next door to him?
“That’s possible and I want to insist that Hellon could have been deceived,” adds Wilson.
His identity is closely guarded and even those who know him are unwilling to divulge information. Buzz learnt that this is the same man who had in 2003 walked into Ogopa Dj offices claiming to be a South African national interested in a collabo with K-Rupt.
Several weeks into the deal, sources say, his dealings became dodgy and Ogopa suspended any further association with the “big name from SA asking K-Rupt to relook the arrangement.
Kiss FM’s Shaffie Weru remembers the artiste but says he was too inconsistent to be believed, “if he is the same guy then I wouldn’t take him seriously,” says Shaffie; “He could do anything to become famous.”
One time entertainment journalist Dan Teng’o vaguely remembers the artiste but cannot recognise him now.
Why is he the man, according to the emails, better placed to marry Esther? Is Hellon too gullible to recognise the tell- tale signs of a con game?
An anonymous source told Buzz that Quincy is indeed a Kenyan national. A car sale deal transacted in 2003 places Quincy’s identity in question.
If he came back to Kenya only last December, why is it that he lived in Golden Gate, South B, in 2003 driving a Mitsubishi Lancer bought locally.
Why is it that every communication he has with the supposed ‘‘Benny Hinn’’ is on g-mail or text? Why is it that on the official website of all the celebs he says he has dated and courted, no one knows him?
Event organiser Big Kev says Quincy is the cause of all the grief but adds that he has never met him even though True Blaq entertainment has his questionable profile alongside that of K-Rupt on their site.
Who is saying the truth? By the time of going to press Buzz had conclusively unwrapped the mystery that is Quincy. He is not what he wants people to believe he is.
Senior pastors at Benny Hinn’s crusade in Kampala have confirmed that Bishop Arthur Kitonga is their official contact in Kenya. What happens to the angel and the Saxophonist?
