State moves to end one-man show as Makenzie, Ezekiel churches face closure

The state has moved to end the one-man show that it says has turned some religious organisations into cults with the office of the Attorney General proposing tough laws to rein in rogue preachers.

The draft Associations Bill makes it mandatory for religious organisations to have corporate governance and stipulates new tough regulations.

“The new Bill proposes coming up with governance, making sure that the societies being registered are accountable,” Attorney General Justin Muturi said.

Appearing before the Senate’s committee probing the mysterious cult deaths in Shakahola, Kilifi county, Muturi admits the government's  helplessness in the face of the rogue religious leaders.

Muturi told the Ad-Hoc committee chaired by Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana  that the current Societies Act, enacted in 1968, which provides for registration and regulation of societies is feeble.

“If there was some element of robustness in regulation one would have been able to detect some of the underhand activities that bodies that have registered are engaged in,” Muturi said.

“We need to digitise the office of the registrar, because going through 100,000 files to see who has not filed taxes would require a huge work force,” he added in response to the senators’ questions about laxity of his office to tame rogue preachers.

More than 120 bodies have been exhumed of persons believed to be members of the Good News International church who starved themselves to death after extremist teaching by preacher Paul Mackenzie.

Yesterday, the AG disclosed that the state has issued a 30-day closure notice to Makenzi’s Good News International and Ezekiel Odero’s New Life Church.

“A notice to cancel the registration of the church has been issued under section 12 1(a) of the Societies Act,” the AG said through Registrar of Societies Jane Joram.

Pastor Ezekiel's church has not filed tax returns for several years, thus the decision to issue the closure notice.

“The society has not updated its records since registration. Consequently, a cancellation notice has been issued to the society which has not filed its returns as required under section 30 of the Act,” the registrar said.

Muturi defended his office of preachers, stating that the registrar can only act to the extend provided for by law.

“To what extent do you think that the government is liable for not holding the Good News International accountable and failing to prevent mass murders?” Migori Senator Eddy Oketch posed.

Muturi said registrar is handicapped to reign in the rogue preachers to restore order and sanity.

“I sympathise with the registrar who while sitting in Sheria House didn't even know about Shakahola before she heard it on news,’’ Muturi added.

He told committee members that over 100,000 societies have been registered with about 40,000 being religious institutions.

“Kenya is not Rwanda. Rwanda is a one man show where you decide today and they are deregistered. Kenya is such a democracy that you take certain action and a flurry of lawsuits will be too much for the Attorney General to defend,” he added.

The AG proposed digitisation of the office of the registrar to monitor the actions and activities of the societies.

"One must be a miracle worker or an angel to have a reasonable believe that something suspicious is happening in Shakahola forest, in fact she wasn’t even aware that Mackenzie had moved from Malindi to Shakahola,” Muturi defended the registrar.

“We can only implement what the law provides. The current law provides for a fine of Sh10,000 per year for a society that violates the Act. The other option is deregistration,” Muturi said.

“The same law stipulates that the registrar shall deregister a society if she has a reasonable suspicion to believe that a registered society is engaging in other activities other than the one provided for under the Act,” he added.