Jonathan Nwokpor
After 20 years of residence in the US, a Kenyan man came home emotionally and financially destroyed.
Isaac Gichengo, a Kenyan, returned to his own country when his marriage to an American woman ended in divorce, leaving him destitute and without money.
Gichengo spoke candidly about his struggles in an interview with the Kenya Diaspora Media.
Gichengo revealed that he had resided in Pennsylvania throughout his time in the US. At seventeen, he immigrated to the United States with hope and aspirations.
“My two brothers and uncle were there and invited me to go to college and behold I was accepted. They gave me tough love’ struggled there for four years to the point I was homeless for three months and still going to school,” he said.
“I used to sleep in an old car duirng the winter and thought of returning home.”
Gichengo used to take odd jobs to make ends meet. He tied the knot in 1996. His marriage seemed to have been blessed with good news because a bank hired him as a salesman not long after.
He did an excellent job at work. After hitting his goals, he was swiftly elevated from customer service to assistant manager.
“In less than six months, I became a manager; I started going to school for banking because I was a physicist. I was promoted again and became a regional manager and used to manage 13 branches with over 50 employees,” said Gichengo.
Gichengo disclosed that his supervisor would approach him to oversee the cash management division afterward.
After 14 years, as his career took off, he received a generous offer from Citibank, the third-largest bank in the United States, to start government banking for them.
“I was managing USD 40 billion before I left last year, I was the vice president for Citibank public firms so I was managing money for the government in Pennsylvania, New York, Washington DC and California,” he said.
Gichengo blamed his marriage for his downfall. He claims that in an attempt to secure legal documentation allowing him to remain in the US, he got married.
“In 1998, we had our first son, an engineer who is now 26 years old, and in 2004, we had the second one, who is now 20 years old. When we met, it was not love at first sight, and we later had children,” he said.
“There were also bonuses and she would time them; I also had a four-bedroom house with a swimming pool. She spent Sh. 16 million to remodel the kitchen and a similar amount for landscaping. She was trying to prove to her parents that she was financially capable yet she wasn’t,” he said
“My biggest mistake was opening a joint account where my employers used to send my salary. The kids used to wear the most expensive labels in the market, such as Tommy Hilfiger and Nike. I used to complain, then I later stopped complaining,” he said.
“In 2007 I paid for her accounting degree; I was working two jobs, in the bank and driving limousines.”
Gichengo claimed in 2004 that they asked his mother to assist in raising their two sons. Later, his in-laws came and built a house right opposite theirs. This became to be a major issue.
“They took over our house, and I protested that these were our children and we would raise them they way we wanted but was the odd man out and the best thing my mum did was just observe,” he said.
“We started quarrelling often. She would demean me in front of my mother. She would cook her breakfast and would not even offer me any and when my mum made me eggs, my wife would ask why and yet I am not a kid,” he says.
“I kept quiet to protect my mum. In 2019 she started mistreating my mom. My mom would sleep crying. She couldn’t take it anymore and opted to return to Kenya.”
Gichengo’s wife allegedly employed their oldest son to trace his online transactions while he was working to resettle her mother in Kenya. He discovered his accounts at Equity and Citibank.
Gichengo described how the police knocked on his door in 2022 while he and his wife were at home, serving him with divorce papers.
Gichengo said his compensation decreased to about Sh 48,000 (USD $300). He received another order the following week, this time about freezing his bank account.
“I packed, not knowing where I was going and in two weeks I was served with alimony and child support papers; we had a hearing in less than a month and I had to pay her Sh. 1.6 million (USD 10,000) a month,” he said.
“I checked our joint account, and she had already moved Sh. 6.4 million (USD 40,000) money to her personal account, and there was only Sh. 241,000 (USD1500) left,” he said, adding that his assets were frozen because his wife claimed he would ship everything back to Kenya.
“They froze my retirement and my pension. I didn’t know where to go. With the little money I had, I decided to just go back to Kenya before things worsen. I only took two suitcases and came back,” he said.
“At work, I was told that you can only work remotely in another country for so long. Depression hit me, I didn’t plan myself well, and my lawyer started colluding with my estranged wife. Two months later, my employer eliminated my department.”
Gichengo, currently seeking work, claims he owes his wife, Sh. 6.8 million (USD 42,000) in unpaid alimony and is facing contempt of court charges. Should he enter the US, he faces a jail sentence and the confiscation of his passports.
Please don’t forget to “Allow the notification” so you will be the first to get our gist when we publish it.
Drop your comment in the section below, and don’t forget to share the post.
