Zimbabwean lawyer Advocate Dr Lewis Uriri has rejected a multimillion-shilling gift package from businessman Wicknell Chivayo, saying accepting the offer could compromise—or create the appearance of compromising—the independence expected of a legal practitioner.

Chivayo had announced plans to give Uriri a new 2026 Range Rover Sport Autobiography valued at about US$250,000, together with US$50,000 for fuel and another US$50,000 for Uriri’s wife.

Uriri declined the entire package.

Who Is Lewis Uriri?

Uriri is a Senior Counsel practising at Zimbabwe’s independent referral Bar and heads chambers at The Temple Bar in Harare.

According to Uriri’s professional profile, his practice covers commercial and corporate law, investment disputes, constitutional litigation, civil liberties and international arbitration.

He is also the founding president of the Zimbabwe Inns of Court and has been involved in legal education and professional training.

His international arbitration credentials include designation to the panels maintained by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

Uriri began his legal career at Honey & Blanckenberg before becoming a partner at the firm. He later left private practice and joined Zimbabwe’s independent Bar.

He has also taught law at the University of Zimbabwe and has been involved in advocacy training and professional legal education.

Uriri’s Work in Politically Sensitive Cases

Uriri has represented clients in several high-profile Zimbabwean legal disputes.

 

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In 2018, he was part of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s legal team when opposition leader Nelson Chamisa challenged the presidential election result. Contemporary reporting identified Uriri among Mnangagwa’s lawyers in the case, which was ultimately dismissed by Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court.

Uriri has also represented Sengezo Tshabangu in litigation connected to the recall of opposition legislators and councillors affiliated with the Citizens Coalition for Change.

In one of the cases, Zimbabwe’s High Court barred recalled CCC candidates from contesting subsequent by-elections under the party’s name, according to reporting by CITE.

Despite his involvement in politically significant cases, Uriri’s professional profile describes a practice extending well beyond politics, including commercial transactions, constitutional law, investment disputes and international arbitration.

Why Uriri Rejected the Gift

The proposed gift came as a surprise to Uriri.

In his response to Chivayo, the lawyer said the two men had last spoken in June 2024 and that he had performed no professional work for Chivayo since then.

Uriri said any previous legal services had been performed in his professional capacity and paid for in full.

His concern was therefore not an outstanding legal bill but the professional implications of accepting a substantial personal gift after the professional relationship had ended.

Uriri referred to Zimbabwe’s legal-professional rules and international standards governing lawyers’ independence.

He said accepting such a large benefit could create the appearance of an ongoing obligation and potentially affect public confidence in his independence.

He therefore declined both the vehicle and the cash offered to him and his wife.

Zimbabwean publication ZimEye also reported on the rejection and quoted Uriri’s explanation of his decision.

The Earlier Vehicle

The latest controversy has also revived attention around an earlier vehicle reportedly connected to Chivayo and Uriri.

According to ZimLive’s report on the earlier episode, older videos appeared to show Uriri receiving a Land Rover Discovery purchased by Chivayo in 2024.

The report said the vehicle was valued at approximately US$110,000.

That earlier episode is separate from the September 2026 offer, and the circumstances surrounding the previous vehicle should not automatically be treated as evidence of wrongdoing.

Why Chivayo Is Known in Kenya

Chivayo has attracted considerable attention in Kenya because of his publicly documented interactions with President William Ruto.

In September 2026, Chivayo met Ruto at State House in Nairobi. According to Capital FM’s report, the businessman said their discussions included investment, infrastructure and economic development.

Chivayo has also announced plans to invest US$200 million in Kenya, describing the proposed investment as part of a broader infrastructure programme.

The reported investment pledge, however, is a claim by Chivayo; the reporting does not establish that the entire US$200 million programme has already been implemented.

His public association with Ruto has also attracted political attention in Kenya. Kenyan media have reported on Chivayo’s meetings with the president and his public statements about supporting Ruto.

That documented access does not, by itself, establish that Chivayo holds an official government position or has formal authority within Kenya’s political system.

A Question of Professional Independence

The dispute over the proposed Range Rover ultimately concerns more than the value of the vehicle or cash.

Chivayo presented the offer as recognition for legal work Uriri had performed in the past. Uriri viewed the same gesture through the lens of professional independence and public confidence in the legal profession.

His decision was therefore straightforward: he thanked Chivayo but declined the vehicle and both cash gifts.

The episode has nevertheless brought renewed attention to Uriri’s legal career, his involvement in politically significant Zimbabwean cases and Chivayo’s increasingly public business and political connections in the region.

When Emma left her rural home in Vihiga County for Nairobi, she was not chasing a glamorous future.

She was looking for work.

Her education had been interrupted by circumstances familiar to many families struggling to make ends meet. Raised in Mbale, Vihiga County, in a family of eight children, Emma left school around Form Four after her family could no longer afford the fees.

Nairobi became her next destination, and she found work as a househelp.

But the city would eventually introduce her to an opportunity that would take her thousands of kilometres away from Kenya and change the direction of her life.

From domestic work to a Norwegian journey

Emma became involved with Life Ministries, an evangelical Christian organisation, where she sang.

In 2000, her involvement with the group took her to Norway as part of a singing and evangelism tour.

She was expected to return to Kenya when the tour ended.

Then she met Ole Christian.

According to the account featured in KTN News’ Daring Abroad programme, the meeting happened about three weeks before Emma was scheduled to leave Norway.

What followed was a relationship between two people whose lives had begun in very different circumstances.

About a year later, they married.

Their relationship also brought the two families together.

Christian travelled to Kenya and met Emma’s relatives in Mbale. The account says he paid six cows as dowry, while the couple later helped Emma’s parents acquire land and build a home.

The story was originally documented by journalist Alex Chamwada’s Daring Abroad programme. A later account published by Who Owns Kenya in 2022 retold the journey and described Emma’s transformation from a Form Four school dropout and Nairobi househelp to a woman with a career and substantial agricultural landholding in Norway.

Building a family in Rakkestad

More than two decades after that first Norwegian trip, Emma and Christian have built their family life in Rakkestad, a small town in Norway.

The couple have four children — two boys and two girls.

But Emma’s journey did not stop with marriage or migration.

The woman whose education had been interrupted eventually returned to school.

She went on to train and work as a special-needs teacher, supporting children who require additional assistance.

Her husband also works with people with intellectual disabilities and has supported autistic individuals, according to the earlier reporting.

Their professional lives are therefore closely connected to caring for others.

A piece of Kenya in Norway

Away from their formal careers, the couple have also developed an agricultural enterprise.

Their land includes about 50 acres used for commercial wheat farming, while another roughly 100 acres is forest.

Together, the holdings amount to approximately 150 acres.

Yet one of the most striking details of their farming story is much smaller.

During Norway’s short summer growing season, Emma cultivates sukuma wiki in her garden using seeds brought from Kenya.

Thousands of kilometres from the village where she grew up, a familiar Kenyan vegetable has become a small reminder of home.

The farm has therefore become more than an economic venture. It is also a place where aspects of Emma’s Kenyan identity continue to live alongside the Norwegian life she has built.

A journey shaped by faith and family

Emma’s story, as presented in the earlier Daring Abroad feature, is ultimately about more than land or migration.

She speaks about her journey through the lens of her Christian faith and expresses gratitude for the opportunities that followed her move to Norway.

She has also remained connected to the family she left behind in Kenya.

From a childhood in Mbale, where school fees brought her education to an early halt, Emma went to Nairobi and worked as a domestic worker.

A singing opportunity then took her to Norway.

There she met the man who would become her husband.

More than two decades later, she is a mother of four, a special-needs teacher and part of a farming family with significant landholdings in rural Norway.

Her journey illustrates how migration can produce lives that span continents — with one foot firmly planted in a new country while ties to home remain strong.

For Emma, the distance between Vihiga and Rakkestad has not erased where her story began.

Instead, it has become part of the story she continues to build.

Source note

This feature is based on earlier reporting by KTN News’ Daring Abroad, presented by journalist Alex Chamwada, and a subsequent written account published by Who Owns Kenya. KSN Media Hub has independently reviewed the available published material but has not independently verified every personal or property detail reported in those accounts.

Italian-born former Catholic priest Sandro Ferretto has married Sharon Jepng’ok, a Tugen woman from Baringo South, in a traditional Koito ceremony that brought together Italian and Kenyan cultures in a remarkable new chapter of his life.

For years, Sandro Ferretto was known in parts of Baringo not as a groom, but as a Catholic missionary priest who dedicated himself to serving local communities.

Now, the Italian-born former cleric has returned to the region under very different circumstances — this time as the husband of a Kenyan woman and a new member of her family.

Ferretto married Sharon Jepng’ok during a traditional ceremony held on Sunday, September 6, 2026, at Seretion Village in Kasiela, Baringo South, according to multiple Kenyan reports.

Former Italian Catholic Priest Marries Kenyan Woman After Years of Missionary Service pic.twitter.com/fWEzqbn8eH

— BMJ Muriithi (@bmjmuriithi) September 7, 2026

The ceremony, described as a Koito, brought together relatives, elders and members of the local community as the former priest embraced aspects of Tugen culture during the celebrations.

The marriage has attracted attention partly because of Ferretto’s unusual connection to the area.

Before returning to Italy, he spent years in Kenya as a missionary priest, working with communities in the Diocese of Nyahururu.

From Italy to Kenya

Ferretto’s connection to Kenya is well documented by his former diocese in Italy.

The Diocese of Padua identifies him as a fidei donum missionary who was sent to Kenya in 2007.

According to the diocese, Ferretto was born in Piove di Sacco, near Padua, Italy, in 1973. He entered the seminary in 1991 and was ordained a priest in 1999.

He later spent seven years as a parish priest in Rossano Veneto before leaving Italy for missionary service in Kenya in September 2007.

In Kenya, Ferretto served as parish priest of Mochongoi, an area within the Diocese of Nyahururu.

The Diocese of Padua’s own records describe him as one of the Padua priests serving in Kenya and specifically identify him as the parish priest of Mochongoi.

His missionary work brought him into close contact with different Kenyan communities, including the Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Tugen and Pokot peoples.

In an account published by the Diocese of Padua, Ferretto described Mochongoi as a large parish made up of dozens of local communities and spoke about efforts to promote peace and reconciliation among communities that had experienced ethnic tensions.

A missionary who became part of the community

Ferretto’s years in Kenya appear to have left a lasting impression on him.

In a message published by the Diocese of Padua after his return to Italy, he reflected emotionally on his departure from Mochongoi.

He wrote that he felt privileged to have lived in another country, experienced another culture and been welcomed by people who had taught him important lessons about hospitality, sharing and community.

His reflection ended with a striking observation: although he had been sent to Kenya to evangelize, he felt that he had also been changed by the people he encountered there.

That history makes his latest connection to Baringo particularly striking.

Years after serving the local community as a priest, Ferretto has now returned to the area as the husband of a Kenyan woman.

From the church to family life

Kenyan reports describe Ferretto as having left active priestly ministry before marrying Sharon.

The Kenya Times reported that he left the priesthood and married Sharon Jepng’ok, describing her as a Tugen woman from Baringo South. The report also placed the traditional ceremony at Seretion Village in Kasiela, an area associated with Ferretto’s previous missionary work.

However, there is an important distinction when describing his departure from the Catholic priesthood.

While current reports describe him as a former priest who left active ministry and subsequently married, there is no publicly located statement from the Vatican or the Diocese of Padua in the sources reviewed confirming the precise canonical status of his departure from the clerical state.

For that reason, it is more accurate to describe Ferretto as a former Catholic priest who left active priestly ministry rather than claim that the Vatican has formally laicized him unless an official confirmation becomes available.

The Diocese of Padua’s records confirm that Ferretto returned permanently from his Kenyan missionary assignment and was subsequently appointed parish priest in Italy in 2020.

A Tugen wedding with an Italian connection

The ceremony in Baringo was more than a marriage between two individuals.

It also brought together two very different cultural backgrounds.

Sharon’s Tugen heritage was prominently represented during the traditional ceremony, while Ferretto’s Italian background added another dimension to the celebration.

Reports say the former missionary embraced the traditional setting and participated in the cultural proceedings as he formally became part of Sharon’s family.

The result was a striking reversal of sorts.

For years, Ferretto had arrived in Kenya as an Italian Catholic missionary working among Kenyan communities.

Now, he has become a Kenyan son-in-law.

A story that comes full circle

Ferretto’s journey in Kenya began nearly two decades ago when he arrived as a missionary priest.

The Diocese of Padua records that he spent years working in Mochongoi, one of the parishes in the Nyahururu Diocese, before eventually returning to Italy.

His missionary chapter did not, however, erase his connection to Kenya.

In 2023, the Diocese of Padua still featured Ferretto speaking about his Kenyan experience, including his encounters with Kikuyu, Tugen and Pokot communities and his reflections on the effects of violence and reconciliation in the region.

Now, that long association with Kenya has taken an unexpected personal turn.

The former missionary priest has married a Kenyan woman from the very region where he once served.

For Sharon, it marks the beginning of a marriage that crosses national and cultural boundaries.

For Ferretto, it represents a dramatically different chapter from the one in which Kenyans knew him as a Catholic priest.

And for the Baringo community, the story has produced an unusual sight: an Italian former missionary returning to the community he once served, this time not wearing clerical robes, but celebrating his marriage as a Tugen son-in-law.

From missionary to husband, Sandro Ferretto’s Kenyan journey has taken a turn few could have predicted.