Guest house demands proof of marriage to admit couples

• Writing is on the wall and clearly states: “There is no room here for illicit sex
• Guesthouse manager called all sorts of names by prospective clients who say it's foolhardy to think of such rules
• The investor believes he is playing his role in fighting against the spread of Aids

No couples can spend a night at Muriu’s Guest House in Nakuru Town unless they produce a marriage certificate or other documentary evidence to prove the legitimacy of their union.

The writing is on the wall and clearly states: “There is no room here for illicit sex!” And like the biblical law of the Medes and Persians during the era of Prophet Daniel, the rules cannot be revoked.

“Sometimes we are in difficulty because we are doing something right, but this was the bitter pill we had to swallow when we invested in this business,” guesthouse director Jeremiah Kibe Muriu says.

“We had no business for the first three months after we opened the doors to guests. All those who came and read the rules just turned away, some in a fit of rage. Others just laughed at us,” Mr Muriu says.

He recalls a man who went and booked a room, and in the evening, and left for a bar. Later, he staggered back into the compound at night, accompanied by a woman. “The guest was told to produce evidence that the woman was his wife and this infuriated him so much that he went to Bondeni Police Station and returned with some police officers to help him sort out the matter.

We stood our ground, and the two had to go and find alternative accommodation.”

The manager, Ms Monica Nguyo, said she had been called all sorts of names by prospective clients who said it was foolhardy to think of such hotel rules in the modern world.

“I once asked a man, who was accompanied by a woman, to produce a marriage certificate or both their national identity cards so that we could match the names, but he became irritated and shouted that they had not come to look for employment,” Ms Nguyo says.

Another man looked her in the eyes, scratched his head and asked her to go and tell her boss to open a monastery.

Mr Muriu says that all the watchmen and other staff have instructions to ensure that the hotel rules are observed to the letter, and that anyone who breaks any of the rules loses his or her job on the spot.

The investor believes he is playing his role in fighting against the spread of Aids and protecting young girls from exploitation by lecherous men.

“I believe that I’m playing my role in building a society that is morally upright. I believe if you can prevent a man from infecting a girl with a disease, you are straight before God and honest members of the society.’ Mr Muriu told the Nation.

His idea to have a no-illicit-sex guesthouse “was in response to the widespread conversion of many lodging houses in major towns into sex dens where college girls and even married women engage in sex for cash, especially during the day.
Mr Muriu said he was convinced that if all lodging houses had similar rules, thousands of Kenyans who have contracted the HIV virus could have been saved.

The businessman who moved to Nakuru in 1972 from Gatanga in Central Province, said that as a devout Christian, he was guided by the belief that no one could live two lives.