Esther Arunga

Esther Adongo Arunga, also known as Esther Timberlake, is a barrister and solicitor and former television and radio presenter from Kenya, now resident in Australia. She is married to Quincy Timberlake and is a co-founder with him of the PlaCenta Party (Platinum Centralizer and Unionist Party of Kenya).

Esther Arunga has a twin brother and six other siblings. She was raised Seventh-day Adventist. She was educated at Kenya High School, earned Bachelor's degrees in communication and law from the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, returned to Kenya for a one-year degree course at the Kenya School of Law and was admitted to the bar in Nairobi in 2009.

She worked as an announcer and journalist at 98.4 Capital FM in Nairobi and for the Kenya Television Network. She won the 2008 CHAT Award for best Teen TV Anchor/Presenter.

In 2009 Arunga joined the Finger of God Church started by Joseph Hellon, a distant relative. She became engaged to Wilson Malaba, an elder of the church, but in early 2010 called off the engagement and moved out of her parents' house to live in a church-owned mansion with Hellon, his wife, and a number of other church members. She has since said that her parents wanted to marry her to a politician in the government. That February, she, Hellon, and Quincy Timberlake announced the formation of the PlaCenta Party (Platinum Centralizer and Unionist Party) of Kenya and Hellon's candidacy for the presidency and Arunga's for the seat of Karachuonyo Constituency and the deputy presidency. Arunga resigned from her job as a news anchor at Kenya Television Network the same day. That night, a number of people associated with the church, including Arunga and Hellon, were arrested and charged with running an unregistered association, although the church had been registered five years before. Computers and laptops were destroyed, documents confiscated and vehicles impounded. She and Timberlake both say they were isolated and tortured. She announced lawsuits against her parents, a psychiatrist, the Attorney General and the Kenya Police for wrongful imprisonment and torture. Arunga was released after two days and on 3 March 2010 married Quincy Timberlake while he was still in custody; however, she has since stated that Hellon performed the ceremony at another time.

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