NALOLO Independent Member of Parliament George Imbuwa’s wife, Ushe, has asked the Lusaka High Court to dissolve her 12-year marriage with the lawmaker because he has abandoned their matrimonial home, opting to stay at Parliament Motel since 2016. Mrs Imbuwa also wants the court to end the marriage because the couple has not been intimate since September 2017, and her husband has stopped talking to her or sharing meals with the family.

In a petition of dissolution of marriage filed in the Lusaka High Court, Mrs Imbuwa states that the couple got married on December 5, 2007, and have three children. Mrs Imbuwa is a procurement specialist who is currently unemployed but a full-time student at the University of Zambia. She states that the couple has three children, all teenagers, while Mr Imbuwa has three other children from his previous marriage aged 15, 29 and 35.

But Mrs Imbuwa wants the High Court to dissolve the marriage because she cannot put up with the lawmaker’s behaviour which has tormented her and the children.“The respondent [Mr Imbuwa] has neglected the household and has abandoned the matrimonial home. He has stayed at Parliament Motel since 2016,” the petition reads in part.

Mrs Imbuwa states that her husband only goes home when Parliament is not in session. “Even when he does [go home], he sleeps in a separate room,” the petition reads further. “The respondent [Mr Imbuwa] has been uninterested and unresponsive to any suggestions of intimacy and has not been intimate with the petitioner physically or otherwise,” the petition reads.

Mrs Imbuwa states that her husband stopped talking to her in 2017 even after several attempts to engage him over the matter. She also states that her husband has stopped having meals with the family since 2016 and prefers food from restaurants or takeaways.

The respondent’s conduct has greatly affected the children and caused them grief and aguish and is inflicting mental stress on the petitioner,” the petition states.