Rosalinda Simyu, the COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli‘s estranged wife was officially welcomed to the United Democratic Movement by Deputy President William Ruto.
While introducing her to the crowd at Posta ground in Bungoma County on Friday, January 28, DP Ruto referred to her as ‘mke was ule mtu was nyororo’, in reference to Atwoli’s love for gold chains and bracelets.
In her short address at the rally, Rosalinda said “Mimi naitwa mama Roselinda Simiyu mzee wangu anaitwa Francis Atwoli.”(My name is Rosalinda Simiyu. My husband is known as Francis Atwoli).
Sometimes William Ruto is very funny,
— Dominic Kiarie (@DominicKiarie8) January 28, 2022This is the first wife of Francis Atwoli. pic.twitter.com/YbQBSpxPw8
She went on to state that she is a member of the hustler movement UDA.”Niko ndani ndani ya hustler”
Francis Atwoli almost instantly took to social media disowning Roselinda terming her a stranger in his life, as she is no longer on the list of his relatives.
“Roselinda was surrendered to William Ruto in 2007 in his Eldoret town house. She is no longer on the list of my relatives,” Atwoli said.
“Ruto can add her, free of charge, to his two recently acquired bearded wives (Moses Wetangula and Musalia Mudavadi) to him have three wives from western. Western Kenya is in Azimio,” the COTU boss added.
Roselinda who was an aspirant for the Webuye West Parliamentary seat in 2017 which she did not win has one child with Atwoli.
During the 2017 elections, Roselinda avoided her husband’s name claiming she wanted to build herself and not ride her husband’s popularity to get votes.
In the past interviews, Atwoli revealed that he parted ways with his second wife after she ventured into politics against his wish.
“The reason I asked her not to pursue politics was that I needed somebody to take care of me. Since she joined politics, I married (Mary) Kilobi,” Atwoli said in a past interview on Jeff Koinange live.