Monday's visit by a Senate committee to the New Life Prayer Centre and Church in Mavueni, Kilifi County, has continued to stir emotions following claims that the trip may have been funded by preacher Ezekiel Odero.
Mr Odero has now denied funding the Senate ad hoc committee investigating the Shakahola deaths to visit his church.
The committee, led by Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana, visited the church as part of its investigations after being invited by the preacher when he appeared before them in Nairobi last Friday.
But speaking to journalists at Karisa Maitha grounds in Kilifi town on Wednesday, his lawyer Cliff Ombeta claimed they were unaware of the committee's plans to honour the invitation, even though it had always been Mr Odero's wish for them to visit the facility to gather facts.
“There is no facilitation from Pastor Ezekiel to the Senate ad hoc committee to visit his church, not even a single shilling whether for the flight or food,” he said.
The preacher is defending himself against allegations linking him to controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie of Good News International Ministries, who is the prime suspect in the deaths of over 400 people in the Shakahola forest.
While on a mission to verify statements linking the preacher to the Shakahola massacre, the senators cleared Mr Odero of any involvement in the deaths of his congregants.
Speaking at the church premises on Monday, Mr Mungatana said the facilities where the bodies were allegedly kept served different purposes.
Pastor Ezekiel Odera (second left) with members of the Senate ad hoc committee that is investigating the Shakahola massacre, led by its chairman Danson Mungatana (third right) at his New Life Prayer Centre and Church on October 17, 2023.
Photo credit: Kevin Odit | Nation Media Group
"We have realised there is no mortuary, instead it’s a server room. Where it was claimed to be a cemetery we realised it’s a construction site. There are things we wanted to unearth and we have probed him further to explain some issues that were not clear. We are leaving this place satisfied that nothing was hidden, everything was open and we have inspected every place we wanted," he said.
After the government began probing embattled preacher Paul Mackenzie over mass killings in Shakahola, speculation went rife in public spaces that Mr Odero used to bury dead congregants at his church.
The speculation arose from the fact that numerous sick worshipers visit the centre for prayers and it was alleged that some of them do not come out alive.
Part of the investigations by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations against Mr Odero were based on speculations that the church is involved in money laundering and mass murder whereby bodies were allegedly transported to Shakahola forest.
Mr Odero has denied all the allegations. After the senators' visit, questions emerged about who funded their trip with a section of the committee secretariat saying the committee was not well constituted at that particular time, and there was no budget to fund it.
According to Mr Ombeta, after they were done with the Senate in Nairobi on Friday, together with Mr Odero, they travelled to Kilifi to follow up on the stalemate of his planned crusade.
“Our prayers to have the crusade are still in place, and we had come to follow up but I was in the hotel when I was informed that the Senate ad hoc committee would visit the institution on Monday. We had no issues since we had prayed that they would visit the place to get the facts correct, and we were prepared to receive them,” he said.
During the first incident, Kilifi North Subcounty Police Commander Mr Kenneth Maina said the church did not inform police about the meeting on time so it could not proceed.
Mr Odero had planned to have the prayers from Wednesday, September 27, to Sunday, October 1.
In the second incident, police stopped ongoing prayers at 9am and dispersed the congregations, citing insecurity a day after they had allowed him to proceed.
Two-day crusade in Kilifi
The crusade was to happen from Wednesday, October 4-8. He is now planning to have a two-day crusade in Kilifi.
Mr Ombeta said police had no reason to stop them from holding the prayers since they had failed to justify their claims.
In addition, several preachers had been allowed to conduct crusades in the neighbouring Mombasa County.
“The senate committee visited the Deputy County Commissioner and the Subcounty Police Commander and they inquired about the threats but they said it was a general threat and not specific,” he said.
He argued that Pastor Ezekiel had about 25,000 people last Sunday, and there was no security threat and accused the police of frustrating his client.
Mr Ombeta said the committee demanded written documentation of the security threats, but the security team did not provide any.
“The person who stopped the crusade said he had received orders from above, but we found out that the reasons were not genuine but a scheme to frustrate Pastor Ezekiel using big names,” he said.
"The security team have said our proposed dates of October 21 and 22 are convenient and they are going to discuss amongst themselves to see if they will allow us," he said.
