@Njaumburuh
The African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa has appointed Archbishop Julius Njoroge its interim leader for one year, with elections to be held in 2023.
The Church National Election Committee also announced that two other leaders, Archbishops Samson Muthuri and Fredrick Wang’ombe will hold the position in acting capacity before the elections.
A meeting of the elections committee held in Nairobi on November 27 made the decision to have the three leaders rotate in the role.
Njoroge, Muthuri and Wang’ombe have been fighting over the leadership of the church, with each leading a splinter group.
The difference between the three leaders has been so huge that they have been working from different locations.
Since 2017, Njoroge has been working from the diocese of Thika while his two counterparts have been working from the church’s headquarters in Bahati, Nairobi.
Muthuri on Tuesday told the Star that he will take over from Njoroge in November 2021. Wang’ombe will thereafter lead from November 2022 to November to 2023.
Muthuri said that the rotational leadership is to unite the church that has been divided for long due to leadership wrangles.
“The NEC decided to ensure that everyone among us three must be given a chance to lead the church then thereafter in November 2023, we will have a general election,” he said.
He also said that the gazettement of NEC members was done on December 1 at the Registrar of Societies.
Board members and chairmanship will also change during each of the leaders' one-year term.
“We are trying to lay a strong foundation on how to unite the church members for three years to enhance peace by the time we will conduct an election,” he said.
He added that they want to make AIPCA a strong and united church and end generational fights.
“We are very serious about unity; a lot has been said about AIPCA but we will make it great again by uniting and making it a single item,” he said.
Two months ago, the three leaders held a joint press briefing at AIPCA Bahati and declared the end of the leadership wrangles.
They said they are ready to lead by example to avoid the formation of the splinter groups within the church.
They recommended that the church's election calendar be made to follow a five-year cycle similar to that of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
