• Omari has asked the court to suspend the CKC decision overturning the local church decision to remove the pastor from the church register for committing adultery.
• However the Executive Committee of CKC exonerated the pastor, ruling the evidence was not strong enough.
Image: COURTESY
A Thika SDA church elder who accused his pastor of having an affair with his wife has moved to court to stop his prosecution.
PM (the only identification) claims his local pastor had a three-year affair with his wife.
He told the court he is being victimised for speaking out on adultery and tarnishing the reputation of the pastor.
In a petition filed at the Milimani law courts, PM and three others want the court to stop what they say could be their imminent arrest.
The pastor who had the affair has reported them to the DCI. They said they might be arrested at any time for speaking the truth.
They have sued officials led by Pastors Samuel Makori, Paul Mwangi, Jeremy Marambi, the East Kenya Union Conference Central Kenya Conference and the DCI.
Through lawyer Danstan Omari, the elder wants the court to stop the leadership of the Central Kenya Conference from paying the pastor's salary until the matter in heard and determined.
“That in the interim and pending hearing and determination of this application, this Honourable Court be and is hereby pleased to issue a conservatory order restraining the CKC from remunerating the pastor,” the petition reads.
Omari has asked the court to suspend the decision by CKC that overturned the decision by the local church to remove the pastor from the church register for committing adultery.
According to court documents, the executive committee of the Central Kenya Conference subsequently exonerated the pastor in what allegedly left the entire SDA church perturbed.
“Ironically, in complete disregard to the general discipline of the SDA church manual, the committee in its findings found the elder’s wife culpable for adultery but exonerated their own pastor in a bewildering manner as it takes two to tango,” Omari said.
The elders have further asked the court to order removal of the CKC leadership from office for not following the church policy in the matter.
In an affidavit sworn by elder Ezekiel Kurunye in support of PM's case, he said PM’s wife wrote to the conference and admitted she had committed adultery and did not object to being dropped from the SDA Church Register.
However, the executive committee of CKC exonerated the pastor ruling that the evidence against him was not strong enough.
But the husband says they ignored all the evidence he took to them, including audio clips and M-Pesa statements showing the pastor sent money to his wife.
They have also condemned the suspension of Pastor Robinson Njuguna of Holly Hill SDA because he took action against the pastor.
“The suspension is a witch hunt because of exposing the ills that are being perpetrated by the respondents in blatant disregard of the SDA Church manual as well as the collective dignity of the Holly Hill SDA Church,” court documents.
On Sunday, 131 elders drawn from the greater Central region met at the Thika Central SDA church in solidarity with PM, saying the pastor had an affair with his wife.
They said they have no confidence in the leadership of CKC and wanted the officials removed from office for not sacking the pastor who committed adultery.
However, speaking to the Star, Pastor Makori whose leadership has been challenged said they followed procedures when the case was reported to them in March this year.
Makori said they found a few inconsistencies in the testimonies before them and that’s why they nullified the decision by the local church.
(Edited by V. Graham)