Sh21m in account is for bride price, Kerra official tells court
Kerra official Daniel Munywoki Wambua told court Sh21m in his account is for bride price. He now wants the court to lift freeze orders to allow him to carry on with wedding plans.
A civil servant is seeking to overturn a court order freezing his Sh21 million in a bank account.
Daniel Munywoki Wambua, an accountant with the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (Kerra), whose account was frozen by Justice Esther Maina on August 10, claims the court was misled by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) that the money in his Equity Bank account was corruptly obtained.
EACC obtained orders freezing Wambua’s account for a period of six months.
Mr Wambua, through his lawyers Danstan Omari and Martina Suiga, says the Sh21 million in his account was a contribution from 950 friends and well-wishers to pay for his wife’s bride price.
He has asked the court to set aside the order so that he can access the money to enjoy his right to marry as enshrined in Article 45 (2) of the Constitution.
In his bid to justify the Sh21 million, Mr Wambua has submitted screenshots of M-Pesa transactions from 950 people showing different amounts sent to him.
“That the amount in Daniel Wambua’s Dowry Account Number 0840184059257 was specifically for the purpose of collecting funds from friends and well-wishers for the purpose of paying dowry for my intended marriage to the wife of my choice as a guaranteed right under Article 45(2),” Mr Wambua states in his affidavit.
He denies being involved in corrupt and shoddy dealings, adding that he draws a salary of Sh170,000 with a net of Sh61,207, contrary to the EACC’s evidence that his net salary after statutory deductions was Sh55,607.
He adds that EACC failed to disclose to Justice Maina that the account it was investigating was the Daniel Wambua Dowry Account, which was to be operated for a period of four months.
Wambua further alleges that the freeze orders obtained by EACC have disrupted his planned bride price payment party “which was scheduled to take place two days according to Kamba customary law”.
He says he will prove and defend the source of the money in the said account, adding that he also has a fixed deposit account in the same bank, which contains money from his farming business that EACC seems not to know about. In this account, he says, he has saved Sh3.5 million.
Mr Wambua says he has a strong case because his marriage committee has a chairman who used to receive the dowry money and will testify in court.
Pending the hearing and determination of the case, Mr Wambua is asking the court to set aside the orders stopping him from making transactions in his other accounts as his business has now been crippled.
He also wants the hearing date be moved from February 2024 to a date this year to enable him to pay the dowry and get married as planned.
